Festive-Bites
by cleotheo
Summary: An A-Z of Dramione Christmas moments. 26 light-hearted snippets of festive fun with Draco, Hermione, their friends and family. Includes family fluff, romance, humour and a little bit of sauciness.
1. Advent

**A/N – Welcome to Festive-Bites, my Christmas story for this year. If anyone has read Alpha-Bites, this is the same idea, only each chapter will be festive themed. Each chapter is bite sized, somewhere between 1,000 words and 2,000 words (apart from a few that go over the 2,000 mark). The M rating is more precautionary, as some of the snippets are quite saucy considering this is a Dramione story.**

 **Since it Christmas themed, this story is set in a universe without a war, where Voldemort was defeated when Harry was a baby. That means no real animosity between the Gryffindors and Slytherins. It also means both Snape and Fred are alive (and they'll both be appearing in this story, along with a few other friends and family members of Draco and Hermione).**

 **Updates will be daily, and there'll be 26 chapters. The chapters are in alphabetical order, but the timeline ranges from when Draco and Hermione first start dating in school, up until they have kids of their own in school. Some years there are two snippets about that year, and other years aren't covered.**

 **If anyone wants to read the snippets in chronological order, this is the order – I/U/J/D/P/S/C/H/K/G/M/E/A/N/W/X/Q/F/R/Z/O/L/V/B/T/Y.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Advent.

When he returned home from work, Draco's first port of call was the front room, where he fully expected to find his wife, Hermione, and four year old twins, Scorpius and Lyra. However, he didn't expect to find his godfather, Severus Snape, sitting with the twins. Scorpius and Lyra were happily playing with some building bricks, while Severus watched over them.

"Daddy!" Lyra cried, jumping up and running over to Draco when she spotted him.

"Hi, Princess," Draco said, swooping Lyra up into his arms and planting a kiss on her cheek. Walking her back over to where Scorpius was playing, he greeted his son before dropping his daughter back to the floor and turning to his godfather. "Severus. I didn't expect to see you today."

"I just popped in to say hello," Severus answered.

"And ended up looking after the twins?" Draco questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm doing a favour for Hermione," Severus replied. "She said she had something to sort for Christmas."

"Christmas?" Draco frowned. "But it's still November."

"That's women for you," Severus said with a chuckle. "She's in the library if you want to go and see what she's up to. I don't mind sitting with the twins for a bit longer."

"Thanks," Draco said as he turned and headed for the library.

When he entered the library, he found Hermione sitting at the table with a roll of wrapping paper, a box and a stack of children's books. Walking up behind his wife, he bent down to give her a peck on the cheek.

"Hey beautiful, what are you doing?"

"Making an advent book box for the twins," Hermione answered. "One of the mothers at the school suggested it. You wrap twenty four books, and each night they open a book and it's their bedtime story."

"And let's guess, you went out and bought twenty four new books," Draco chuckled, even though he knew Hermione didn't really need an excuse to buy the twins new books.

"I couldn't use old books," Hermione said with a snort. "Besides, I've bought Christmas books."

"All muggle?" Draco asked as he picked up a book called The Night Before Christmas.

"No, some magical as well," Hermione said, showing Draco another book called Dragon's First Christmas.

"I'm sure the kids will love it," Draco said, putting the books back onto the table.

"I hope so," Hermione replied. "I just thought it would be nice if we read new books for the month. And come Christmas Day, they'll have new books anyway."

"I'll leave you to sort the box," Draco said, giving Hermione another kiss. "I'll go and have a drink with Severus."

"Invite him to stay for dinner, I'll be finished here in half an hour or so," Hermione called as her husband left the room.

"Okay," Draco called back, leaving his wife to finish her advent book box.

 **...**

On the first of December, Hermione explained to Scorpius and Lyra about their advent book box and how it was going to work. As expected the twins were thrilled with the idea of a new book each night, as they both loved books. When it came time for them to go to bed on the first of December, the twins excitedly gathered at the box, which Hermione had wrapped in Christmas paper and stood beside the fire in the front room. When the tree was up, it would sit beside the tree, but for now it was quite okay in the corner beside the fire.

"One of you picks tonight, and the other picks tomorrow," Hermione instructed. "You can take it in turns, and you'll each pick the same amount of books."

"Can Holly read with us?" Lyra asked, stroking the ginger tabby cat that had come to investigate what the twins were up to.

"I've told you before Lyra, cats don't read," Hermione said.

"Holly does," Lyra insisted. "She lets me read to her all the time."

"She does," Draco whispered to his wife. "I've seen Holly lying beside Lyra, while Lyra reads to her."

"Strange cat," Hermione muttered. "Okay, so who's picking the book tonight?"

"Me," Scorpius cried loudly, delving into the box and pulling out a book.

"I wanted to pick," Lyra pouted.

"You can pick tomorrow, sweetheart," Hermione said, dropping a kiss to her daughter's head. "But let's open tonight's book and go and snuggle down in bed."

"We can both open it," Scorpius said to his sister, holding out the wrapped book.

"Okay," Lyra said, grabbing hold of half of the book.

Together the twins tore off the paper on the book, revealing a book with a picture of an elf on the front.

"What do we have?" Hermione asked, peering down at the book. "The Littlest Elf. Let's go and find out what it's about."

"Come on Holly," Lyra said, as they set off towards the stairs.

Much to Hermione's amusement, Holly happily followed Lyra and Scorpius upstairs. When the pair settled themselves in Lyra's room, Holly curled up beside Lyra, ready to listen to the story.

"See, I told you she liked to read," Lyra crowed triumphantly as Hermione settled herself in between the twins.

Hermione nodded as she opened the book and began to read 'The Littlest Elf'. Scorpius and Lyra thoroughly enjoyed the story, and Hermione enjoyed reading something she hadn't already read a hundred times before. When the story was over, she shooed Scorpius off to his own room, promising to be there to tuck him in shortly.

"Mummy, can I read the book again tomorrow?" Lyra asked with a yawn as she snuggled down in her bed, Holly quite content beside her.

"Yes, the books now belong to you and your brother, you can read them whenever you want," Hermione answered. "But tomorrow we'll have a new book to read before bed."

"A book, I pick?" Lyra checked.

"Yes, tomorrow it's your turn to pick the book," Hermione reassured her daughter as she gave her a goodnight kiss.

Heading into Scorpius's room, she found her son was tucked up in bed. Like his sister he was also looking forward to the following day, where he could re-read the book they'd just read, and then get a new book at bedtime.

 **...**

By Christmas Eve, the twins had reached the last book into their advent book box. The advent box had been a roaring success, and the twins had loved getting a new Christmas book each day. They also enjoyed the fact that some books were muggle, while some were magical. Hermione had even included a few books that came with buttons that made festive sounds, and of course those were the books Scorpius had loved the most. Anything to make a noise - that was seemingly his motto.

"Okay, time for bed," Draco announced as the twins finished leaving their plate for Santa. "Lyra, it's your turn to pick a book from the advent box."

"The last one," Lyra cried excitedly as she plucked the last book from the box.

"And what is it?" Hermione asked.

Like they had with all the other books, Lyra and Scorpius tore into it together. When they did, they found another magical book. They could tell it was magical because the unicorn on the front cover was prancing around and the snowflakes were moving as they fell from the sky.

"Unicorn," Lyra cried happily.

Lyra loved unicorns, whereas her brother was more of a dragon person and he'd been thrilled earlier in the month when they'd opened a book about a baby dragon's first Christmas. Of course, Hermione had deliberately made sure to get books about both of her children's favourite magical creatures.

"Let's have a look at what we've got," Draco said, peering over his daughter's head to see the book in her hand. "The Magic Unicorn. Are you sure this is a Christmas book, Hermione?" He hissed to his wife, apart from the snow the book didn't look very festive.

"Of course I am," Hermione replied. "Read it and find out."

"Can you come too, Mummy?" Scorpius asked. Normally just one parent read the bedtime story, but sometimes they both did, and that usually meant two stories.

"Yes, but you're just getting the one story," Hermione warned.

Scorpius merely grinned at his mother as he and Lyra hurried off to bed. Draco and Hermione found the pair snuggled in Scorpius's bed when they reached the top floor of the house. While Draco settled himself in the middle of the twins, Hermione perched beside Scorpius to listen to the story. And of course the book was a Christmas book, it was all about a unicorn with a magical horn that could create snow and how he used the horn to make it snow on Christmas day and make all the other unicorns happy.

When the story was over, the twins convinced Hermione to read them a second story with the help of their father. After the second story, Lyra settled down in her own bed and the twins snuggled down to go to sleep.

"This has been a brilliant idea," Draco said to Hermione as the pair returned to the front room. "The twins have loved it."

"So have I," Hermione confessed. "I always love reading a new book."

"You'll have plenty to read tomorrow," Draco chuckled. "I'm sure you'll get some books of your own, but the twins will get plenty. Mother's bought them an entire set of children's books each. Lyra's are all about unicorns, while Scorpius's are all about dragons."

"Funny, my mother's done the same," Hermione chuckled. "Only Scorpius will be reading about pirates, and Lyra about fairies."

"Our kids the bookworms," Draco laughed.

"Just like us," Hermione said, snuggling up to her husband. "Nothing beats a good book."

"I'm not so sure about that," Draco muttered, leaning down and giving Hermione a deep kiss. "I can think of a few things more exciting than a book. Fancy an early night? I can give you an early Christmas present."

"Go on then," Hermione giggled, reconnecting her lips with Draco's as the couple made the most of their peace before the twins were up at the crack of dawn the following morning, eager to see what presents they'd received off Santa.


	2. Baubles

Baubles.

Over dinner an excited Scorpius and Lyra filled their parents in on their very first term at Hogwarts. The two eleven year olds were home for the Christmas holidays, and they were bursting with stories about their new school. Not surprisingly the pair had been sorted into Slytherin, despite Hermione hoping that at least one of her children would follow in her footsteps and become a Gryffindor. Even without either of them being Gryffindors, Hermione was so proud of the pair and she was enjoying every minute as they regaled her and Draco with tales of what they'd been up to.

"And I do hope you're not getting into too much trouble," Hermione said when the twins paused for breath. "Just remember I have a good friend on the staff, and he'll tell me everything."

"Nah, Professor Longbottom's cool," Scorpius said.

"Neville Longbottom is cool?" Draco questioned. Even though he knew Neville through Hermione, he'd never expected his own son to say the Herbology Professor was cool.

"Yeah, his lessons are such fun," Lyra enthused. "And do you know he has toads living in a pool beside the greenhouses?"

"Yes, they're all descendants of his old toad, Trevor," Hermione replied. "Trevor escaped one day in seventh year, and when he was found he'd mated with a rare species of toad native to the Scottish highlands. Professor Dumbledore had the pool built and Trevor moved into the pool with the toad he'd mated with. Now all the toads descend from them."

"Icky," Scorpius remarked with a grimace. "But the toads are cool. Alex and I found one jumping into a girl's bag in one class."

"Yes, but you didn't warn her, did you?" Lyra retorted, giving her brother a mock glare. "Poor Annabeth jumped out of her skin when she reached into her bag for a quill, and pulled out a toad."

"Good days," Scorpius replied with a chuckle. "And she saw the funny side of it, after she stopped screaming of course."

"I suppose I should take comfort in the fact you didn't put the toad in her bag," Hermione said as she began to gather the dishes. "Does everyone want dessert?"

"What is it?" Draco asked.

"Sticky toffee pudding," Hermione replied.

Of course everyone wanted dessert, and as they ate Scorpius and Lyra continued to chat about school and the fun they were having. With dessert out of the way, and Draco offering to do the dishes, Hermione took the twins into the front room, promising she had something fun for them to do.

"So what are we doing?" Scorpius asked, looking around and finding nothing out of the ordinary.

"It's time to hang your baubles," Hermione replied excitedly as she pulled a box out from underneath the coffee table.

Even though the tree was up and fully decorated, there was one set of baubles Hermione hadn't put on the tree. On the twins' first Christmas she'd had baubles made with their faces on, and each year she'd had a new bauble made. She now had a set of baubles for each twin, chronicling the pair's Christmases. Once they'd gotten old enough the twins had helped her hang them on the tree, and this year was going to be the same.

"Aren't we getting a bit old for this?" Scorpius groaned when Hermione opened the box and he was confronted with baubles containing his face and his sisters.

"You're never too old for traditions," Hermione replied.

"At least she hasn't got new ones made," Lyra whispered to her brother as she quickly counted the baubles.

"That reminds me, here they are," Hermione announced, pulling a smaller box out from the cupboard under the bookshelf. "Your baubles for this year."

Scorpius and Lyra both shared a horrified look as their mother unveiled their new baubles. The picture on the baubles were what she'd taken over the summer, of the pair of them in their school uniform. Hermione had made them try their uniforms on to check they fitted, but both twins knew it was merely an excuse to get them in their uniforms so she could snap pictures of them. They'd just had no idea she would turn them into baubles.

"We can't let people see them," Scorpius protested. "I look like a right dope. Honestly Mum, could you not have found a better picture than that."

"I think you look adorable," Hermione said with a smile as she admired the baubles. Draco had jokingly suggested to Scorpius that he slick his hair back for the picture, so her son had tried it and the end result was that he looked like an exact replica of his father at that age.

"I look like I've used half a tube of gel in my hair," Scorpius whined. "Honestly, who would slick their hair back like that?"

"Come on Scorp, you've seen the dorky pictures of Dad when he was our age," Lyra laughed. "You look just like him on that bauble."

"Well, I'm going to hide this one," Scorpius muttered as he picked the new bauble up. "It's bad enough we have to have baby pictures up, without pictures of us in our school uniforms."

"No, you don't," Hermione warned her son as he set off for the tree. "No hiding the baubles at the back of the tree. You know the rules, picture baubles go at the front in pride of place. You know your grandparents like to look at them when they visit."

"Yeah Scorp, place it where everyone can see," Lyra said with a laugh. "That way when Alex comes round, he has something to tease you about."

"Please, you're in no better position," Scorpius scoffed as he hung the first of his baubles on the tree. "You look like a right swot on that bauble. How you're a Slytherin, I'll never know. Only cool people are supposed to be in Slytherin."

"That is just nonsense," Lyra retorted, nudging her brother out of the way as she began to hang her baubles. "Just because I read, doesn't mean I'm not cool. Dad reads all the time, and he's both cool and a Slytherin."

"Malfoy men are always cool," Scorpius said boastingly.

"And Malfoy women are always right," Lyra shot back. After years of watching her parents and grandparents, she knew full well the real power in the family lay with the women. As tough as Lucius and Draco were, they would do anything for their wives.

Hermione chuckled happily as her children bickered playfully as they hung their baubles. By the time the last bauble had been hung, Draco had finished in the kitchen and was standing with his arm wrapped around Hermione's waist.

"All done," Scorpius announced as he and Lyra stepped back from the tree. Even though the baubles were cheesy, he had to admit they looked good hanging at the front of the tree.

"Now it feels like Christmas," Hermione said with a smile as she snuggled up to her husband.

With Scorpius and Lyra back from Hogwarts, and their baubles hung on the tree, she finally felt as though she could begin to look forward to the festive season. It had been strange preparing for Christmas without the twins around, but now things could get underway properly. The Malfoys were all together, and Hermione vowed they would have the perfect Christmas.


	3. Cracker

Cracker.

Hermione awoke on Christmas morning to find Draco was already awake. When she opened her eyes, she found her boyfriend watching her intently, and she had to wonder just how long he'd been awake. Normally Draco wasn't a morning person, but he seemed rather alert this morning.

"Hey beautiful," He greeted, sweeping down and connecting his lips with Hermione's in a breathless kiss.

"Morning," Hermione replied with a smile when Draco's lips left hers. "That was some greeting. What have I done to deserve it?"

"Just being you," Draco answered with a shrug. "Besides, I can't I just be in a good mood. It is Christmas, after all."

"Yes, it is," Hermione said, her smile widening even further at the mention of what day it was. Hermione loved Christmas, and she especially loved celebrating with Draco. "I'll have to get up soon and start lunch."

As they had the previous year, both Hermione and Draco's parents would be arriving for Christmas lunch. The previous year had been Hermione and Draco's first year living together, which was why they'd hosted lunch, and it had been decided then that it would become a tradition for Draco and Hermione to play host to their parents. It was easier than trying to split their time between the two couples, plus this way Hermione could keep control as she was a bit of a perfectionist.

"I'll help so we can get done sooner and get opening our presents," Draco offered.

"Sometimes you're like a big kid," Hermione chuckled. She was guessing Draco was so keen to help her so that he could get to the fun part of the day where he got to open his presents quicker.

"Maybe I just want to see what you think of what I've bought for you," Draco argued as the couple got out of bed and began to get ready for the day ahead.

"I can guess what that's going to be," Hermione said with another laugh as she headed into the bathroom.

"How?" Draco pouted, following after Hermione. Leaning against the bathroom door, he watched as his girlfriend got washed and brushed her teeth. "I'm not that predictable in my presents. I vary what I buy all the time."

"Yes, you do," Hermione agreed. "But you always buy me some sort of sexy lingerie. Although as I've pointed out before, that present is more for you than me."

"Nonsense," Draco snorted as he replaced Hermione at the sink and turned on the tap. "You get just as much enjoyment out of the sexy underwear as I do. Besides, you buy racy lingerie all the time. I'm just buying you something I know you're going to use."

Hermione chuckled in response as she headed back into the bedroom and got dressed. By the time she was fully dressed, Draco was just emerging from the bathroom, so she left him to get dressed and headed downstairs to make a cup of coffee. As the coffee was making, she fed Crookshanks and watched sadly as he merely picked at his favourite food before curling up on one of the kitchen chairs so he could be with Hermione.

"Poor baby," Hermione said, stroking her cat's head. "Don't worry, its turkey for lunch. You love turkey smothered in gravy."

Hermione had taken Crookshanks to the medi-vet a few times, and while there was nothing really wrong with him, he was getting old. Even magical cats eventually reached the end of their lifespan, and Hermione knew Crookshanks was rapidly approaching his. She doubted she had much time left with her precious feline companion, so she was doing everything she could to make his final few months as special as possible.

Vowing not to get emotional at Christmas, Hermione quickly finished the coffee and began getting things ready for lunch. By the time Draco entered the kitchen, Hermione was all ready for him. Handing him his cup of coffee, she rattled off a list of things she wanted him to do.

"Honestly Crooks, she thinks I'm a slave," Draco whispered conspiringly to the ginger cat, which just looked up at him before turning his head back to his mistress.

"You offered to help," Hermione replied as she placed the turkey into the oven.

"I did, and I will help," Draco said. "Now how do you peel carrots again?"

"With magic," Hermione answered quickly. The first time she tried to get Draco to cook without magic, he'd almost sliced his finger off chopping a pepper, so now she tended to let him use magic. It was much safer, and less stressful, than letting him loose with a knife.

"I thought you said Christmas lunch tastes better making it the muggle way," Draco said as he pulled out his wand and got to work peeling and chopping the vegetables Hermione had put him in charge of.

"It'll still be cooked the muggle way," Hermione said with a shrug. "I don't really think it matters if the preparation is magical. Besides, we'll be drinking magical wine."

Draco's parents would be bringing the wine, while Hermione's parents would be once again bringing dessert in the shape of her mother's Christmas pudding. The same had happened last year, and it had been decided they would do the same this year. Hermione would cook lunch, Lucius would provide the wine from his vast collection and Jean would bring along pudding.

"Let's hope Father brings something that isn't as strong," Draco muttered. The previous year his father had brought and exceptionally strong elf-made wine and Hermione's father had ended up a bit tipsy.

"There was no harm done, Dad just had a bit of a hangover the next day," Hermione said with a laugh. "Although that will teach him to go toe to toe with Lucius in a drinking competition."

Draco chuckled at the memory, while they finished off lunch. Once everything was sorted, Hermione and Draco headed into the front room with Crookshanks. While the couple sat down on the sofa beside the tree, Crookshanks headed for his basket beside the fire and he curled up. Chances were he'd be there all morning, until it was lunch time and he got some turkey.

"Who wants to go first?" Hermione asked as she summoned the presents from under the tree.

"Let's go together," Draco answered.

Hermione nodded, and the pair began to open their presents. As Hermione predicted, she had a set of saucy underwear courtesy of her boyfriend. Although, as Draco said, he'd also bought her several other presents including jewellery, books and perfume. As for Draco, he'd also received a few books, some aftershave and a new watch from Hermione. Most of their presents were from each other, as they'd already exchanged gifts with their friends a few days earlier, however there was a parcel from Molly and Arthur Weasley. When Hermione opened it, she found a matching pair of hats and scarves.

"Does she expect us to wear these in public?" Draco asked in horror. He could still recall the Christmas he got a Weasley jumper, and the incident still gave him nightmares.

"They're not that bad," Hermione said, pulling on one of the red and green hats and draping one of the matching scarves around her neck.

"Not that bad?" Draco snorted. "Take a look in the mirror, Hermione."

Hermione did as Draco said and headed into the hallway to check the mirror. One look in the mirror confirmed her boyfriend was right, the hat and scarf were a bit hideous. Removing the woolly items she headed back to her boyfriend with a sheepish smile.

"You're right," She admitted. "But maybe it won't be cold enough to need them tomorrow when we go to The Burrow."

"It could be the coldest day of the year, and I'd still not wear that hat and scarf," Draco insisted.

"Just make sure you don't say that to Molly," Hermione warned her boyfriend. "She puts a lot of effort into her knitting."

"I'm not a completely insensitive arsehole, Hermione," Draco said.

Hermione nodded, knowing it was true, and Draco wasn't anywhere near as tactless as he'd been as a teenager. He was always really polite to Molly, and he'd never disparaged any of her gifts in front of her. In fact, he never complained about her hand knitted goods unless he was alone with Hermione.

Putting the hand knitted goodies to one side, Hermione opened up the only other present left; a massive box of chocolates from Neville for the pair of them. Placing the chocolates with their other presents, Hermione was about to get up when Draco stopped her.

"There's one more thing," He said, summoning a luxurious gold and purple cracker from the tree.

"You want to pull a cracker?" Hermione asked in confusion. She hadn't even been aware there was a cracker on the tree, and it certainly didn't match the crackers she'd bought to go with lunch.

"I thought we could make the morning go off with a bang," Draco replied.

Hermione rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's corny joke, but she took hold of one end of the cracker. One Draco's count of three, the couple pulled the cracker and it split with the usual small pop. As the cracker split, Hermione spotted something small and shiny fall to the floor, but there was no sign of the hat, joke or silly present normally found in crackers. Before Hermione had a chance to register what had happened, Draco had fallen to his knees to retrieve whatever had fallen from the cracker. Hermione gasped when Draco turned back to her on one knee, a diamond engagement ring in his fingers.

"Hermione, will you marry me?" Draco asked.

"Of course I will," Hermione replied, squealing loudly as she pounced on her boyfriend.

Locked in an embrace, the couple fell back onto the carpet. When their lips separated, Draco slid the ring on Hermione's left hand. Hermione held her hand up, admiring the ring. The ring was a silver band with a delicate diamond surrounded by several smaller diamonds. It wasn't flashy or outrageous, it was delicate and understated and Hermione thought it was perfect.

"Is the ring okay?" Draco asked. "It took me weeks to pick one, but if you don't like it we can get a new one."

"I love it," Hermione replied, smiling at her new fiancé. "And I love you."

"I love you too, Hermione," Draco said, reconnecting their lips as they fell back onto the floor in a heated embrace yet again.

Unfortunately for the couple, they didn't have long to celebrate in private before their parents started to arrive for lunch. However, their parents were thrilled with the news and they were able to celebrate with their parents for the rest of the day. Once their parents had departed for the day, the couple retired to the bedroom to continue their private celebrations, making good use of the sexy lingerie Draco had bought for Hermione.


	4. Decorating the Tree

Decorating the Tree.

Letting himself in through the front door of his house, Draco hurriedly shut it behind him to keep out the bitter cold. For the last few weeks the weather had been steadily getting colder, and Draco wouldn't be surprised if it snowed before long. Shrugging out of his jacket, and pulling his boots off, Draco wondered if his girlfriend was home yet. While Draco had spent the morning with his friends, Hermione had gone out to see her parents. However, she'd said she would be back by early afternoon, which was one of the reasons Draco had come home so early. He was hoping to spend the rest of the day snuggled up in the warmth with his gorgeous girlfriend.

Deciding to investigate to see if his girlfriend was home, Draco began to search the house they'd recently bought and moved into. Knowing Hermione was still sorting the library, Draco tried there first. However, the books she was sorting were still piled up the same as they had been the previous evening, meaning his girlfriend hadn't been in the room all day. Walking across the hallway, Draco entered the large front room and froze in his tracks.

Standing in the corner of the room was a massive Christmas tree. Draco was used to having a large tree at the manor, but he hadn't expected to see one as big in his new home. The tree totally dominated the room, and he had to wonder what had gotten into his girlfriend to buy a tree as large as the one she had. He knew they'd been talking about decorating for Christmas, and he knew Hermione wanted it to be perfect as it was their first Christmas living together, but still the tree was a little bit over the top in Draco's opinion.

"Isn't it wonderful?" A voice called from behind him, and Draco turned to find Hermione standing in the hallway behind him, grinning widely.

"It's large," Draco said, entering the room. As he did so he spotted half a dozen shopping bags on the floor, all of which seemed to be stuffed to the brim with decorations.

"I think it's perfect," Hermione said as she followed her boyfriend into the room. "Or at least it will be once it's decorated."

"I guess it will look nice when it's fully decorated," Draco conceded. "And I see you've bought decorations as well."

"I may have gotten carried away," Hermione chuckled as Draco gestured to the bags on the floor. "But it's not all for the tree. I got decorations for the rest of the room as well."

"As long as it's not too much," Draco warned. He didn't mind decorating for Christmas, but he didn't want to live in some sort of garish Christmas nightmare.

"I'm sure it won't be," Hermione replied with a shrug. "Now why don't you go and make us a cuppa, and we can get started. I need to find the lights."

Leaving Hermione to sort her decorations, Draco went and made two cups of coffee. Since getting involved with Hermione, he'd become addicted to the muggle drink. In fact just the other week he'd seen a fancy coffee maker he liked, and Hermione had promised to buy it for him for Christmas. Finishing with the coffee, he headed back into the front room, where he found Hermione sitting on the floor surrounded by decorations.

"Thanks," Hermione said, taking the cup her boyfriend handed her. "I've found the lights. We need to start with them."

Taking the large box of lights Hermione handed him, Draco put his cup down and carefully removed the lights from the box. He then pulled out his wand and was just going to use it when Hermione stopped him.

"No magic," She said firmly. "We should do this the muggle way."

Draco looked between Hermione and the large tree, not believing that she was being serious. "No magic," He repeated in bewilderment. "But the tree is massive, it'll take all afternoon."

"I know, won't it be fun?" Hermione replied with a smile. "Please Draco, I want to do this the muggle way."

Decorating such a large tree the muggle way wasn't exactly Draco's idea of fun, but he couldn't resist Hermione when she looked at him with her big, pleading brown eyes. "Okay," He sighed. "We can do it the muggle way."

"Thank you Draco, I'll make it worth your while," Hermione vowed, giving him a saucy wink. "Now, we need to put the lights on first."

Draco nodded as he wondered how on earth he was going to string such a large amount of lights around such a large tree. How muggles decorated their trees he had no idea, and he was only onto the lights. He didn't want to think how much time it would take to get all the baubles onto the tree.

"How do we this?" Draco finally asked.

"I think we need a chair, or some ladders," Hermione admitted. "Then we can work together to get the lights on."

Summoning a chair from the dining room, Draco moved over to the tree and began stringing the lights around the bottom of the tree. As he worked his way upwards, Hermione came to help him. Finally, Draco placed the last part of the string around the top of the tree.

"Let's check they work," Hermione said as she plugged in the lights. Their house was adapted to incorporate both muggle technology and magic, and for things like lights, Hermione preferred electricity.

"Seem good to me," Draco said when Hermione flicked the switch and the tree was lit up with hundreds of sparkly lights.

"Yep, they work," Hermione agreed as she flicked off the lights again. "Now tinsel. I went for purple and silver as the colour choice, is that okay?"

"It's no green and silver, but it will do," Draco answered, giving Hermione a grin so she knew he was just teasing.

"I thought neutral was better," Hermione said with a chuckle. "No old house rivalries in this house."

"I seem to remember you have a bit of liking for green and silver in the bedroom," Draco said with a wiggle of his eyebrows, reminding his girlfriend of the new lingerie set she'd modelled for him the previous evening.

"I'll try anything in the bedroom," Hermione replied without thinking.

"I'll hold you to that," Draco responded with a wicked cackle.

"I hope you do," Hermione said.

Grinning at the prospect of indulging in a few naughty things in the bedroom with his girlfriend, Draco grabbed some tinsel and while he started to decorate the top of the tree, Hermione worked on the bottom. Once the tinsel was done, Hermione produced a selections of baubles and they began adding them to the tree.

"Bloody hell, we've been doing this for hours," Draco groaned as he hung yet another bauble on the tree.

"Maybe I underestimated how long it would take," Hermione conceded. "But we're nearly done now."

In actual fact nearly done was nearly half an hour later. Getting off the chair, Draco stepped back and admired their handiwork as Hermione flicked on the lights again. He had to admit it was a stunning tree, even without being decorated with magic. It may have taken them a while, but the result was worth it.

"Okay, it's lovely," He told his girlfriend, wrapping his arms around her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "And it was actually quite fun decorating it together."

"Maybe it can become a tradition," Hermione suggested hopefully.

"Yeah, I guess it can," Draco replied. "And now it's finished, I'm starving. Do you fancy ordering out for Chinese?"

"That sounds good," Hermione agreed with a nod as Draco headed into the kitchen to grab the takeout menu.

Hermione began to sort the unused decorations on the floor, when she suddenly spotted the angel she'd bought for the top of the tree.

"Draco," She called.

"Yeah." Draco popped his head around the door, menu in hand.

"The angel." Hermione held up the angel in a silver dress. "She needs to go on the top of the tree."

"Let's guess, you want me to do it," Draco said with a sigh as he entered the room.

"Please." Hermione gave Draco a smile as she handed him the angel.

Giving Hermione the takeout menu, Draco took the angel and climbed back up onto the chair. Leaning over, he placed the angel on the top of the tree. However, just as he was removing his hand, his foot slipped on the chair and he went flying face first into the tree. Hermione let out a squeal of surprise as she watched with wide eyes as her boyfriend and the tree went toppling to the floor.

"Draco, are you okay?" She cried, rushing over to where Draco was now lying on the tree.

"Great," Draco grumbled as he pushed himself up and away from the tree. "Sorry Hermione, but I've killed your tree."

"As long as you're okay," Hermione insisted as she helped her boyfriend to his feet. "You are okay, aren't you?"

"My pride's a bit bruised," Draco confessed as Hermione pulled some loose tree shavings from his blond hair. "I wasn't exactly elegant, was I? Flying face first into the tree."

"It was a rather spectacular fall," Hermione admitted with a small giggle.

"And what about the tree?" Draco asked, looking down at the broken mess on the floor. Not only was part of the tree flattened, but several of the baubles were broke.

"All I can say is it's a good job we're magical," Hermione replied.

As Hermione pulled out her wand, Draco watched in disbelief as she used magic to put the tree back up and fix its branches. She then got rid of the broken decorations, summoned some of the ones they hadn't used and used magic to fully decorate the tree. To finish it off, she then floated the angel into place on the top of the tree. In five minutes the tree was back to looking every bit as good as it had after a couple of hours work.

"I cannot believe you've just done that," Draco exclaimed. "What happened to wanting to do things the muggle way."

"We did do things the muggle way, it just didn't end as I planned," Hermione said. "I think in future, we'll decorate the tree with magic. Let's be honest, it's much safer."

"Yes, it is," Draco agreed with a small laugh as the couple settled down to sort dinner, the tree now sitting nicely in the corner of the room making them feel all festive.


	5. Elfish Fun

Elfish Fun.

As his three year old twins squealed with excitement, Draco knew it was worth it to be wearing an insufferable red velvet suit. Even though dressing up as Santa wasn't his ideal way of spending the afternoon, the end result was worth it. Not only were the twins thrilled by his presence, but he was hoping his wife would be grateful later on. Hopefully she would still have the sexy elf outfit from the previous year, only this time Draco intended to have fun with his sexy elf.

Draco spent the afternoon entertaining the twins, who were thrilled that Santa had made a personal appearance in their house. Because the twins were still small, he was able to spend a bit of time with them without them realising just who he was. However, when Lyra started giving him thoughtful looks, Hermione swept in and announced it was time for Santa to go home.

"Does he have to?" Scorpius wailed when Hermione announced the end of the visit.

"I do," Draco said solemnly, in the deep voice he was using while in disguise. "I have to get back to the elves at the North Pole."

"Yes, Santa has a lot of work to do before Christmas," Hermione added. "You don't want someone not to get a present because he was here playing with you two, do you?" She asked her children.

Slowly the twins shook their heads. Hermione suspected they would much rather that 'Santa' stayed with them longer, but they were good kids and they wouldn't want to deprive other children and hog all of Santa's time.

"Say goodbye, kids," Hermione said.

"Bye Santa," Lyra said, wrapping her small arms around 'Santa's' legs.

"Come again," Scorpius said as he gave 'Santa' a hug.

"Don't worry Scorpius, you'll see me again," Draco said, detaching his son and daughter from around his legs.

Waving goodbye to the twins, Draco left the front room and darted back to his bedroom. After pulling his normal clothes on, he stuffed the Santa suit in the back of the wardrobe, and quietly headed back downstairs. He then snuck out the front door, and re-entered as though he'd been out. Hermione hadn't wanted the twins questioning where Draco was when Santa was around, so she'd made him pretend to go out a few hours earlier.

"Daddy, Daddy, you missed Santa," Scorpius cried as Draco re-entered the front room.

"I can't have missed Santa, it's too early," Draco said, sweeping Scorpius up into his arms.

"He was here," Lyra insisted as Draco sat down and she clamoured up on the sofa beside him.

"And what was Santa doing here before Christmas?" Draco asked.

"He said we were very, very good," Scorpius supplied proudly.

"It was a treat," Lyra added with a serous nod.

"It was," Hermione agreed. "It was a treat for good boys and girls. And you both promised Santa you would be good until Christmas, didn't you?"

"Yes," Scorpius and Lyra chorused together.

"Of course they'll be good, my children are always good," Draco said, grinning at the twins.

"Sure they are," Hermione replied with a roll of her eyes. As much as she loved the twins, there were times when they were a right handful. "And right now they're going to be good for you, while I go and get their bags."

"Bags?" Draco frowned.

"Your Mother is coming to pick them up," Hermione explained. "Lucius and Narcissa offered to look after them for the night."

"So we'll be alone tonight?" Draco checked, throwing his wife a saucy grin.

"Yes, just the two of us," Hermione confirmed with a smile. "Unless you want me to cancel?"

"No way," Draco replied quickly. "Go and get packed, and the twins can tell me more about Santa."

Anticipating a fun evening in with his wife, Draco settled back on the sofa and listened to the twins gabbling on about their afternoon visit from Santa. The twins were still chattering about Santa, when Narcissa emerged from the fire.

"Nana Cissa," Lyra and Scorpius cried, abandoning Draco and rushing over to their grandmother.

Immediately the twins started to regale their grandmother of the fun way they'd spent their afternoon. As the twins chatted about Santa, Narcissa gave her son a knowing look. The previous year he'd refused to dress up as Santa, but this year it looked as though he'd given in. Although Narcissa wasn't too surprised, considering she knew what was likely in store of her son once the twins were safely out of the way.

"It wasn't that bad," Draco told his mother, answering her unspoken question.

"I'm sure it wasn't," Narcissa replied with a knowing smirk.

Draco frowned slightly as he wondered just what his parents knew about the reward Hermione had planned for him. However, before he got a chance to quiz Narcissa further, Hermione returned with the bags for the twins.

"Thanks for taking them, Narcissa," Hermione said, handing the overnight bags to her mother-in-law.

"It's our pleasure," Narcissa replied with a smile. "Lucius and I are looking forward to babysitting for the evening. And don't forget, you're coming to lunch tomorrow."

"We'll be there," Hermione promised.

Draco and Hermione said goodbye to the twins, before Narcissa took them off to the manor. Once they were alone, Hermione turned to Draco with a seductive smile on her face.

"Is Santa ready for his reward?"

"I'm ready," Draco replied with a grin. "But don't I get my reward from my little elf?"

"If that's what you want," Hermione replied with a chuckle. "Make yourself comfortable, I'll be back in ten minutes."

While Hermione headed off to get changed, Draco flicked off the lights, put the Christmas tree lights on and lit a couple of cradles that stood on the fireplace. He did debate stripping off his clothes, but he eventually settled on leaving his shirt and trousers on as he sat back down on the sofa. Five minutes later he heard Hermione's footsteps on the stairs and he sat up in anticipation.

When she entered the room, Hermione didn't disappoint. She was wearing the same outfit he'd seen the previous year. Like the previous year the green material of the dress barely covered her breasts and the skirt was still short enough so that he could see her green knickers. She was also wearing a tiny little hat, and a pair of red and white knee length socks.

"Still like it?" Hermione asked with a chuckle.

"Most definitely," Draco said, licking his lips.

"And since Santa was a good boy this year, he'll get his reward," Hermione said as she sauntered towards Draco.

"And what's my reward?" Draco asked eagerly.

"Just sit back and relax," Hermione said, pushing Draco back onto the sofa and straddling his lap.

Draco rarely gave his wife full control when it came to sex, but for once he was happy to sit back and let Hermione take charge. He followed her lead when she hungrily began to kiss him, and he didn't protest when she tugged at his shirt, tearing off a few buttons in the process.

"Someone's keen," Draco chuckled as Hermione yanked down the zipper on his trousers.

"Are you complaining?" Hermione asked in between breathless kisses. "I thought you wanted your reward from your elf."

"I do," Draco answered, lifting his hips slightly as Hermione slid his trousers off.

"Well then, stop complaining," Hermione ordered as she slid off her husband's lap and fell to the floor in front of him.

Complaining was the last thing on Draco's mind as his wife's talented mouth got to work. One satisfying orgasm later, Hermione climbed back onto Draco's lap and teased him until he was ready for action again. Once Draco was back up and raring to go, Hermione slipped off her skimpy knickers and settled herself on top of her husband.

"You're a good little elf," Draco said with a groan as Hermione nibbled at his ear.

"I don't want to be a good elf, I want to be a naughty one," Hermione whispered.

Draco chuckled, as he tilted Hermione's head and connected their lips, while his hands pulled down the top of her tiny dress, exposing her breasts. "I'm sure you can be a very naughty elf."

"I'm sure I can," Hermione agreed, grinning down at her husband as she began to make love to him.

In the candlelit room, the couple made love twice before retiring to their bedroom for the evening, where Santa was very well rewarded, and Hermione was a very naughty elf.

* * *

 **A/N – Mentions of the previous year's events in this chapter relate to the M snippet, which is set the year before this one.**


	6. Fairies

Fairies.

Two days before Christmas, Hermione was rushed off her feet with last minute preparations. Keeping the six year old twins out from under her feet had proved difficult, and Hermione had resorted to letting them dress up. Lyra was dressed in a Christmas fairy outfit, claiming she was the snow fairy. Meanwhile Scorpius was dressed as a green dragon, threatening to melt her snow with his fire. Currently the two six year olds were doing battle in the front room, while Hermione tried to finish decorating her Christmas cake.

Hermione had just placed the last of her sugar snowmen on the cake, when she heard the floo network sound. Knowing the network was set for just family and friends to use, Hermione wasn't worried about who was entering the house. Besides, she quickly got her answer when she heard Lyra excitedly greeting her 'Uncle Sev'.

Uncle Sev was what the two six year olds called Draco's godfather, Severus Snape. These days Severus had given up teaching at Hogwarts and was running a potions company for the Malfoy family business. He was also a regular at both the manor and Draco and Hermione's house. Leaving her cake, Hermione went to greet her former Professor.

"Hello Severus," Hermione greeted, smiling at the sight of her once formidable Potions Professor, being hugged by two excitable six year olds.

"Hermione," Severus replied. "I just brought round your Christmas presents."

"Let's put them under the tree," Hermione said as both Lyra and Scorpius tried to peek into the bag Severus was carrying.

Hermione led the way into the front and stopped in confusion when she found white fake snow littered around her front room. She also spotted patches of flickering orange particles.

"What on earth is this?" Hermione asked, running her finger through the particles and finding they vanished without a trace at her touch.

"Daddy did it," Lyra offered.

"Your Daddy's at work," Hermione said to her daughter.

"We know that, silly," Scorpius giggled. "But he used magic on us. I can breathe fire."

To demonstrate his point, Scorpius pursed his little lips and blew. Hermione was stunned to see flickering orange particles shooting from his lips and landing harmlessly on the floor.

"And I'm the snow fairy," Lyra called, waving her wand and causing flurries of fake snow to fall from the ceiling.

"Wow," Hermione breathed. "This is impressive magic."

"It is," Severus agreed. "But it's a lovely thing for Draco to have done for the kids."

"Yes, it really is," Hermione said, making a mental note to thank her husband for jazzing up the kids dressing up outfits. "Do you want a cuppa, Severus?"

"I'd love one," Severus replied.

"Okay kids, your Uncle Severus and I are going back into the kitchen, you two can stay in here and carry on playing," Hermione said.

"What are they playing?" Severus asked in amusement as the twins started to chase after each other, one breathing fire and the other one creating snow.

"Scorpius is the big, bad dragon trying to melt the snow fairies snow," Hermione explained as the two adults made their way into the kitchen.

"The joys of kids," Severus chuckled. "Thank Merlin I never had any."

Hermione chuckled politely, but she knew Draco's godfather didn't actually mean it. She knew Severus well enough to know that one of his biggest regrets in life was never settling down and having children. Even though he'd once loved Harry's mother, Lily, Hermione knew her former Professor regretted not letting her memory go and finding someone else. Over the last few years he had dated a few women, and Narcissa kept telling him he wasn't too old to become a father, but Severus insisted it wasn't going to happen for him now.

Not wanting Severus to brood about his past and his regrets, Hermione quickly made tea and handed a cup to him as she chatted about life in general while she finished her cake. When the cake was done, and the tea had been drank, Hermione and Severus headed back towards the front room. However, just as they were about to enter the room they heard an almighty bang, accompanied by a girlish scream and a loud crying. Rushing into the room, they found Scorpius lying on the floor, clutching his arm in agony, while a tearful Lyra stood beside her brother.

"What happened?" Hermione asked, rushing over to her son.

"I can't fly," Scorpius wailed, clearly hurting from whatever he'd done to himself. "Dragons fly, and I can't."

As they checked Scorpius over, and discovered he'd broken his arm, Lyra managed to explain that Scorpius had jumped off the back of the sofa, trying to fly. Unfortunately for Scorpius, the only enchantment Draco had placed on his outfit was to give him the ability to breathe fire.

"This is all my fault," Hermione berated herself. "I should have been watching them."

"It was an accident Hermione," Severus soothed her. "And Scorpius will be fine. I'm fairly sure his arms broken, but I would take him to St Mungo's to the sure. When it comes to stuff like this, I always think it's better to go to a medically trained wizard."

"Yeah." Hermione nodded. "We'll go to the hospital."

"Don't worry, it's just a simple break," Severus said. "Draco broke his arm several times when he was younger. He was a daredevil just like Scorpius."

"Okay little dragon, time to get you off to the healers," Hermione said, getting a still weeping Scorpius to his feet.

"Uncle Sev, will Scorp be alright?" Lyra asked quietly.

"He'll be fine, honey," Severus said, swinging the little girl up into his arms. "I know, why don't you and I stay here and you can show me what a good snow fairy you are."

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Hermione asked Severus.

"Of course not," Severus answered. "You take Scorpius to St Mungo's, Lyra and I will be absolutely fine here."

Double checking that Lyra was okay, Hermione hustled Scorpius through the floo network and to the hospital to get his arm sorted. As Hermione and Scorpius disappeared, Severus heard sniffling and he when he turned his head, he found Lyra looking towards the fireplace and crying softly.

"Don't cry honey, your brother will be fine," Severus reassured the young girl. "The healers can mend broken arms really quickly. When he comes back, he'll be as good as new."

"Really?" Lyra asked.

"Really," Severus replied with a nod. "Now come on, show me how you be a snow fairy."

It took a bit of urging, but Lyra was soon running around the front room, making snow fall from the ceiling.

"Uncle Sev?" She asked after a while. "Can you do magic?"

"Yes, I can do magic," Severus replied, wondering just what the young girl wanted.

"Can you make me glitter like a real fairy?" Lyra questioned with a hopeful smile.

Hoping Hermione wouldn't mind, Severus pulled out his wand and waved it over Lyra. A gold cloud briefly appeared over Lyra's head, before it disappeared and the young girl was sparling like a fairy. Holding her hand out and seeing her sparkling arm, Lyra giggled happily and set off making more snow.

"Uncle Sev," She called a few minutes later, returning to Severus's side. "Will you be a fairy, with me?"

"Boys aren't fairies," Severus replied.

"Please," Lyra pleaded, her bottom lip wobbling slightly and tear forming in her big, expressive eyes.

Not wanting Lyra to break down in tears, especially since he didn't want Hermione to return and start worrying about her daughter as well as her son, Severus gave a reluctant sigh.

"This is just between you and me," He muttered to his godson's daughter. Practically forcing himself to raise his wand, he pointed it to his back and a pair of sparkling fairy wings sprouted from his white shirt. "There, I'm a fairy as well, but no dresses."

"Don't forget the sparkle," Lyra said.

With another sigh, Severus raised his wand again and cast the same sparkling charm on himself that he'd cast on Lyra. Within seconds he began to sparkle and he could only imagine how idiotic he looked, a fully grown man with fairy wings and sparkling like a girl.

"Come on Uncle Sev, let's fly," Lyra said, as she took off running around the room on her tiptoes, waving her hands at her sides. Luckily, Lyra's version of flying was a lot safer than her brother's attempts.

After strolling around the front room, Severus wasn't running around on his tip-toes for no-one, he convinced Lyra to settle down to a story. As he settled down with the young girl, he forgot his wings and the fact he was glittering. That was how he was still sitting with his fairy wings and glitter all over himself when the floo network lit up and Hermione emerged with a smiling Scorpius in her arms.

"All fixed," Scorpius cried as his mother sat him down on the chair. "The Healer said I was a very brave dragon."

"She also said to keep still, so sit there like good boy," Hermione said, before she turned to Severus with a smirk playing on her lips. "Nice wings, Severus."

"Damn." Severus turned bright red as he whipped out his wand, vanished the wings and removed the glitter charm from himself.

"Uncle Sev was playing fairies with me," Lyra announced. "He was a good fairy, but not as good as me. The snow fairy is the queen of fairies."

"Okay queen of fairies, sit down with your brother and I'll sort you both some tea," Hermione said. "Then we can read until Daddy gets home."

"You won't tell him about this, will you?" Severus asked in a quiet voice.

"Taking Scorpius to the hospital?" Hermione asked, playing dumb. "Of course I'll tell him."

"I meant the fairy thing," Severus muttered.

"Don't worry Severus, your secret is safe with me," Hermione chuckled. "I won't tell anyone you had wings and were sparkling like a fairy. Mind you, I can't guarantee the queen of the fairies can keep her mouth shut. She tells her Daddy everything."

"Leave Lyra to me, I can convince her to keep quiet," Severus confidently.

For the next half hour, Severus tried to convince Lyra to keep their fairy activities a secret, and just when he thought he'd succeeded, Draco arrived home. Of course it took all of two minutes before the twins blurted out the entire story of their father. Not only did Draco know that Scorpius couldn't fly as a dragon and ended up going to hospital, he knew his godfather had entertained his daughter by dressing up as a fairy.

"Don't worry, it will go no further," Draco reassured his godfather, once he'd stopped laughing hilariously at the thought of Severus being a fairy. "Father will never hear of this."

With a groan, Severus collapsed onto the sofa in defeat. Of course Lucius was going to find out, and of course his old friend would find the whole thing hilarious. One thing was for sure, Severus would never forget the day he babysat Lyra the snow fairy and ended up becoming a fairy himself.


	7. Gift for the Parents

Gift for the Parents.

"Well Hermione, that was as delicious as ever," Richard Granger declared as he finished his Christmas lunch.

"It was," His wife, Jean, agreed. "Your roast potatoes were extra lovely this year."

"They were no different from normal, Mum," Hermione chuckled as she began to gather the plates. "Is everyone wanting dessert?"

Of course everyone wanted a portion of Jean's delicious Christmas pudding. With Draco's help, Hermione removed the plates and brought the pudding in for dessert.

"More wine?" Lucius asked as Hermione dished the pudding out. "Hermione, do you want a glass?" He prodded.

So far his daughter-in-law had been drinking water, claiming his elf-made wine was too strong for her. However, she hadn't objected other years and Lucius had deliberately made sure to bring a selection of his milder bottles.

"No thank you Lucius," Hermione replied as she placed a steaming bowl of Christmas pudding and custard in front of him. "I'm cutting down on alcohol this year."

"Isn't it a bit early for New Year's resolutions?" Richard laughed as Lucius topped his glass up.

"It's never too early to try and get a bit healthier," Hermione retorted.

"Just as long as you don't go on any ridiculous diet," Narcissa warned her daughter-in-law. "There's nothing worse than women who don't need to diet, depriving themselves just so they can look like twigs."

"Don't worry Narcissa, I won't be trying to lose weight," Hermione said with a slight smile.

"I should think not, a Malfoy man likes a nice, curvaceous woman," Lucius declared. "A few curves are what we look for in a perfect women, isn't it Draco?"

"I didn't fall for Hermione because she's gorgeous with a good figure," Draco replied, shaking his head at his father's ability to turn every conversation inappropriate. "I fell for her because she's kind, funny and smart."

"If you say so son," Lucius replied with a roll of his grey eyes.

"Are you trying to tell me, you asked me out because you liked my figure?" Narcissa asked her husband. "I thought you said it was because I stood up to you and wouldn't fall at your feet like the other girls."

"It was a bit of both," Lucius admitted. "I liked your fire, but I also admired your pert backside."

"And that's enough of that," Draco said loudly as his parents-in-law chuckled at his parents antics. Trust him to have the most embarrassing parents alive.

With a bit of laughter, the conversation was changed and attention turned to what everyone would be doing at New Year. As they always did, Lucius and Narcissa would be throwing a large party at the manor. Richard and Jean were planning on heading up to Scotland, to visit a cousin of Richard's. As for Draco and Hermione, they had been planning on spending a quite night together, but Lucius vowed to get them to attend his party.

Lucius was still trying to convince the couple to spend New Year at the manor as the group moved into the front room. As usual, the exchange of presents happened after lunch. Draco and Hermione had swapped their presents that morning, but they would now exchange gifts with their parents.

Settling down, Draco summoned the presents from under the tree and the exchange got underway. For the next ten minutes wrapping paper was ripped and discarded onto the floor, much to the delight of Hermione's cat, Holly, who was in her element playing with the paper and ribbons. Presents consisted of alcohol, chocolates, perfumes and aftershaves, books, jewellery and even a weekend at a spa for Draco and Hermione.

"We do have one final present," Hermione announced once all the other presents were opened.

Grabbing two envelopes from the fireplace, she handed them to each couple. The four parents exchanged puzzled looks, before opening what they assumed was a Christmas card. At first glance they did have a Christmas card, albeit a personalised one that Hermione had made up from a photograph of the house covered in snow from the previous Christmas.

"Doesn't the house look gorgeous," Narcissa cooed, admiring the picture on the front of the card.

"It does," Jean agreed.

"Are you not going to open the card?" Draco asked impatiently. He and Hermione had been waiting all day for this moment, and now their mothers were getting distracted by the picture of the house.

"Have some patience, Draco," Narcissa scolded, her voice trailing off when she opened the card and she was confronted with something very unexpected inside.

Following suite, Jean opened their card and she joined Narcissa in staring at the card in shock. Inside the card was a baby scan, and the message above it wished the grandparents to be a Merry Christmas. Narcissa and Jean showed the cards to their husbands, who also took in the picture in complete surprise.

"Is this what we think it is?" Lucius finally asked.

"That all depends, if you think it's a scan of our babies, then yes it is," Draco replied.

"Babies?" Narcissa whispered. "As in plural?"

"Two to be exact," Hermione answered with a wide grin.

"Twins," Jean gasped. "You're having twins."

Jean's exclamation was the key for everyone to start rejoicing. Jean and Narcissa leapt to their feet and joyfully embraced Draco and Hermione. Of course Lucius and Richard also joined in the action and congratulated the couple.

"And this explains the drinking," Lucius chuckled as he hugged Hermione.

"It does," Hermione replied. "No more drinking for a few more months."

"Why didn't you just tell us, I could have brought some non-alcoholic wine," Lucius said.

"We already had this planned," Hermione said, looking over to where Narcissa and Jean were looking at the scan pictures again. "It seemed like a good way to break the news."

"It was certainly unique," Lucius replied with a smile. "I'm sure no-one else has a Christmas card from their unborn grandchildren."

"I'm sure they don't," Hermione agreed with a laugh. "So I take it you're happy about becoming a Grandfather?"

"I am," Lucius replied with a smile, before he suddenly began to frown. "Wait a minute. Grandfathers are old men, I'm no old man."

"You've got a son in his twenties, you're no spring chicken," Hermione argued. "Besides, it'll keep you fit having two grandchildren to look after."

"Grandchildren. I'll be a Grandpa," Lucius muttered as he sat back down. "Bloody hell, I'll be like Arthur Weasley. That old goat already has a dozen grandchildren."

"Lucius." Hermione playfully slapped her father-in-law on the shoulder, knowing he didn't really mean any offence and that he and Arthur had buried their differences years ago. "You'll never be like Arthur. He's got so many grandkids, because he's got so many kids. You'll be getting two grandchildren in a few months, and who knows if you'll get any more."

"True, Narcissa and I did have a bit more self-control than Weasley and his wife when it came to having children," Lucius said with a nod. "Not that we weren't capable of having more children. We were certainly active enough to have more."

"We all agree it's a miracle you've never had a later life surprise the way you two go at it," Hermione muttered. "But this isn't a competition with Arthur."

"If it is, we would win, though," Lucius declared with a smirk. "Weasley may have more grandchildren, but they won't be as adorable as our two. We're going to have the best grandchildren ever. Just you want and see, they'll be perfect little Malfoys."

Hermione laughed at the pride in Lucius's voice as he spoke about the grandchildren he hadn't yet met. It was clear from everyone's thrilled reactions that the twins were going to be two spoiled little children when they arrived. Next Christmas was certainly going to be fun with two new additions to the family.


	8. Holly

Holly.

Pushing through the crowds in Diagon Alley, Draco was amazed by how many people had left their Christmas shopping to the last minute. It was Christmas Eve morning, and the street was packed with more people than usual. Draco suspected the shops would be doing a roaring trade with all the extra customers.

Even though Draco himself was in the street to pick up a present for his fiancée, Hermione, he didn't consider himself among the dozens leaving their shopping to the last minute. He was actually just picking up a necklace for his fiancée, that he'd had made using some of the ashes from her beloved cat Crookshanks, who'd died earlier that year. Draco had ordered the necklace at the beginning of the month, but not wanting to have it lying around the house in case Hermione had spotted it, he'd arranged to pick it up on Christmas Eve.

Entering the jewellers, Draco was pleased to see the place wasn't too crowded. As he waited for his turn, he admired the collection of wedding rings the jeweller stocked. In three months' time he and Hermione were going to be married, and wedding rings were still on their to do list. Making a mental note to bring Hermione to visit the shop after Christmas, Draco left the display and headed to the counter when there was an opening.

Handing over his receipt, the jeweller produced the necklace from the safe in the back room. Wanting to be sure everything was in order, Draco opened the box and admired the end result. The ashes had been turned into an amber crystal, which had been shaped like a cat and hung on a silver chain. Draco had to admire the craftsmanship as the crystal cat genuinely looked like Crookshanks.

"Is everything in order?" The jeweller checked.

"It's perfect," Draco replied as he snapped the box shut and secured it in his pocket. "Thank you."

Leaving the jeweller, Draco intended to head straight home, but as he passed the new pet emporium on the corner of the street, his eyes fell to a lone kitten sitting in the window. The kitten was a tiny, ginger tabby, and it was sitting all alone in a large pen, which at one point had obviously contained other kittens. Draco watched as the kitten morosely tapped at a ball, before lying down and curling itself up into a ball.

Before he even had time to think about what he was doing, Draco had marched into the pet shop and asked to see the kitten. The second the tiny kitten was in his hands, Draco knew he would be taking it home for Hermione.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Draco asked.

"It's a girl," The shop assistant replied.

"I'll take her," Draco announced. "Of course, I'll also need some accessories."

"We've got everything here you could possibly want," The shop assistant said with a bright smile. "Why don't I put the kitten back in her pen, and we can sort everything else you're going to need."

The kitten went back into her pen, while Draco and the shop assistant gathered everything else. There was obviously the necessities, like a litter tray, cat litter, food and water bowls and food itself. But Draco didn't stop with necessities. He bought a large wicker basket, padded with plush cushions, a large scratch pole with several different levels and places to hide and sleep, a boat load of toys and a tiny purple collar, with an enchanted name tag for when they gave the kitten a name.

"The collar also comes with a locater spell, so the cat will never get lost," The shop assistant explained as she rang Draco's bill up. "Do you want a carry basket to get the cat home?"

"I'd better take one," Draco answered.

While the shop assistant sorted the basket, and placed the kitten inside, Draco started to shrink his purchases and pack them all into a bag he'd bought from the pet shop. The beauty of magic was he could take everything home in one bag, rather than struggling on with boxes and overloading himself. By the time he left the pet emporium, Draco had a basket with a kitten in and a bag full of every accessory imaginable.

Heading home before he made any more last minute purchases, Draco was pleased to find Hermione was busy in the kitchen. Leaving everything in the hallway, he popped into the kitchen to let his fiancée know he was back, before taking everything into the front room and setting it up. Apart from the food and litter tray, which he left to go in the kitchen, Draco set the scratch pole up in the corner beside the sofa, and he placed the basket and the kitten in front of the fire. He then dumped the toys next to the scratch pole and put the collar on the small kitten, who was busy exploring her new basket.

"Hermione, come in here," He called. "I've got something to show you."

"Two minutes," Hermione called back.

Two minutes later, Hermione entered the room and let out a squeal of surprise when she spotted the kitten. Making her way over to where Draco was sitting on the floor beside the cat basket, she reached out and picked up the tiny, ginger ball of fluff.

"It's gorgeous," She purred.

"She's gorgeous," Draco corrected. "And she's all yours. All you need to do is name her."

"You've bought me a kitten?" Hermione asked in surprise. While Draco had never objected to Crookshanks, she'd always gotten the impression he wasn't a pet person.

"Yes," Draco replied. "I know she won't replace Crookshanks, but I couldn't resist when I saw her. She was all alone, and no-one should be alone for Christmas."

Hermione laughed lightly as she leant over and gave Draco a brief kiss. "You're just a big softy really."

"Don't tell anyone, you'll ruin my reputation," Draco joked. He actually thought that Hermione was right, as when it came to his fiancée, he was bit of a marshmallow.

"So what are we going to name you?" Hermione asked, turning back to the gorgeous little kitten in her hands. "Something festive, I think."

"Mistletoe," Draco suggested.

Hermione considered the suggestion before shaking her head. "I don't think so, how about Holly?"

"Holly, I like it," Draco replied. "So we're going for Holly?"

"I think so," Hermione replied. "What do you think sweetie, are you a Holly?" She asked the kitten, who nuzzled her face against her hand. "I think that's a yes. Holly it is."

With a name sorted, Draco tapped the name-tag on Holly's collar and her name etched itself onto the silver plaque. "There, it's official. Welcome to the family, Holly."

"Thank you Draco, I love her," Hermione said, putting the kitten back down in her basket and wrapping her arms around her fiancé. "She's the best Christmas present ever."

"Better than last year?" Draco asked with a fake pout, remembering how he'd proposed to Hermione the previous year.

"Okay, maybe not as good as that," Hermione replied with a smile as she looked down at her diamond engagement ring. "But she's perfect for this year."

"As long as you like her," Draco said with a smile as they got to their feet.

Taking the food and litter tray into the kitchen, the couple spent the rest of the day settling Holly into her new home. She really was the cutest present Hermione had ever received, and the only other gift that year that meant as much to her was the necklace she received off Draco. Now she had a permanent reminder of Crookshanks, along with a gorgeous new kitten who she could love and watch grow up into a beautiful cat.


	9. Ice-Skating

Ice-Skating.

Standing on the platform of Hogsmeade station, Hermione and Draco watched as The Hogwarts Express pulled out of the station, carrying their friends' home for Christmas. Hermione had been due to go home to her parents, but they'd won a cruise in a competition, and Hermione had urged them to take the trip and she would spend one final Christmas up at Hogwarts. Of course the Weasleys had invited her to stay with them, but Hermione rather fancied spending one last Christmas in the school she'd come to love over the last seven years.

As for Draco, he'd chosen to stay behind with Hermione when he'd found out the Head Girl was staying behind. The pair had recently started dating, after flirting with each other for most of the previous year. Sharing dorms as head students had ignited their romance, and now they were very much a couple.

"Are you sure you're making the right decision?" Hermione asked her boyfriend. "You didn't have to stay here with me?"

"Of course I made the right decision," Draco replied, giving Hermione a smile. "I'm right where I want to be."

"But won't you miss your parents?" Hermione questioned. "And won't they miss you?"

"It's one year Hermione," Draco pointed out. "Besides, when I informed them of my decision, Father quickly arranged for him and mother to spend Christmas in one of the villas abroad so I couldn't change my mind."

"You could have gone with them?" Hermione replied.

"Gone with my parents when they're off on holiday somewhere exotic? I don't think so," Draco snorted. "I've been traumatised enough going on holiday with that pair over the years. One thing I've learnt, is if it's hot, they wear very little clothing. I have no desire to spend my Christmas with my very randy parents. I'd rather be here with you."

"Well at least we can finally go on our first official date," Hermione chuckled.

Despite being together for the previous few months, the couple had yet to go on an official date. The first time they'd arranged to go on a date, Hermione had come down with a cold and spent a few weekends snuggled up in bed. The second time they'd arranged to go out, Draco had ended up hurt in quidditch training and spent most of his weekend in the hospital wing being treated for concussion. Then there was further quidditch practices, head duties and studying to contend with, meaning the couple hadn't had a chance to do more than hang out in the head dorms. However, now it was the Christmas break, they were free to spend some time together.

"Speaking of which, I've got something organised," Draco said, grinning at Hermione. "I'm going to whisk you away for the morning."

"Whisk me away?" Hermione frowned. "Whisk me where?"

"Somewhere fun," Draco replied. "Don't worry, I've cleared it with Dumbledore. As long as we're back in the castle before dinner time, he's given us permission to leave Hogwarts and the surrounding area."

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked.

"It's a surprise," Draco whispered back as he pulled Hermione into his arms. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes," Hermione answered without hesitation.

"Then hold on, and let's get going."

Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco as her boyfriend pulled out his wand. She was bit nervous that he was going to apparate them both as they hadn't had their apparition licences that long, but she knew he wouldn't put her in any danger. Surely if he thought there was any chance he was going to splinch them, he wouldn't be taking the risk of apparating them. Even so, Hermione shut her eyes as Draco waved his wand and she felt the familiar tug of apparition pulling at her torso.

"You can open your eyes now," Draco whispered when they'd landed and Hermione was still snuggled into him with her eyes tightly shut.

Slowly Hermione opened her eyes, and satisfied they were both in one piece, she looked around and frowned. "We're in an alley. Sorry to say, Draco, but this isn't very romantic."

"We're in an alley so no muggles see us," Draco said as he put his wand safely out of sight.

"Muggles? You've brought us into the muggle world?"

Hermione was rather surprised by the revelation, as she knew Draco hadn't had much contact with muggles throughout his life. When they'd started school, he'd been a prejudiced, pureblood snob, but he'd grown up over the years and he was now fairly tolerant regarding muggles and muggleborns. But even so, Hermione didn't think he'd ever really been in the muggle world.

"I've experimented a bit with muggles while hanging out with Blaise," Draco explained. "Or should I say, I've experimented in visiting the muggle world," He hastily added as he realised what he'd initially said could be taken wildly out of context. "I swear, no muggles have ever been hurt."

"Idiot," Hermione chuckled with an affectionate smile. "I had no idea you'd been into the muggle world."

"Only a few times, but Blaise and I always have fun," Draco replied. "We visited this place last Christmas, and I thought you might like it."

Draco took hold of Hermione's hand, and led her out of the alley. The couple found themselves in a muggle town, although Hermione had no idea which town they were in. Luckily, Draco seemed to know where they were going and he led her past the shops and towards a large park. As they entered the park, Hermione saw a large sign advertising an ice rink, and she hoped that's where they would end up. Sure enough, Draco led her to where the large outdoor rink was located.

"You can skate, can't you?" He checked, suddenly worried in case his plan to take Hermione ice-skating was going to fall flat on its face.

"I can," Hermione confirmed with a wide grin. "And I love it. Thank you Draco, this is the perfect first date. Can you skate?"

"Not until last year," Draco replied with a shrug. "Now I'm a natural."

Hermione rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, although she suspected he was telling the truth. She'd watched him at quidditch practice, and he could try his hand at any position and in her humble opinion he had talent in all the positons. He just seemed like one of those people who found their skills at sport and physical activity came naturally. So it wouldn't surprise her if he was indeed a skilled skater after just learning the previous year.

Hermione got a further surprise when they entered the ice-rink and Draco paid for their session with muggle money. How he'd gotten his money exchanged, or how he even knew much about muggle money was a mystery to her, but she'd learnt over the last few years that there much more to Draco then met the eye. He was far more than a rich, pureblood wizard whose only goals in life was to carry on the family name and pureblood tradition. He was an incredibly complex person, who wanted to prove to the world he was more than just a spoilt Malfoy brat. He wanted to show everyone that he was a worthy successor to take over the family company and bring the Malfoys into a new era where blood was no longer an issue.

Entering the ice-rink, the pair sat down at the side of the rink and put their ice-skates on. Draco had a bit of a grumble about wearing skates other people had worn before him, but on a whole he was on his best behaviour. With their skates on, the couple headed over to the ice.

"Are you ready?" Draco asked as they stepped out onto the edge of the ice and he took hold of Hermione's hand.

"Okay, but do not pull me over," Hermione warned. "I know it can be hard to stay upright, but I don't fancy going crashing to the ice."

"Won't happen," Draco replied confidently, before he ventured out further into the middle of the rink, still holding onto Hermione's hand.

As Draco had said, he could skate. Within minutes Hermione wasn't worried about her boyfriend pulling her over. It was clear he was a natural on ice, just like he was on a broomstick.

"See," Draco gloated as he turned to face Hermione, skating backwards as he did so. "Simple."

"I don't believe you," Hermione chuckled. "Is there anything you're not good at?"

Draco pretended to think about it for a while, before shaking his head and grinning at his girlfriend. "No. I'm super talented in everything I do."

"Big head," Hermione laughed. "Now stop gloating, and show me just what you can do."

Letting go of Hermione's hand, Draco spent a few minutes skating around the rink on his own, showing off his natural sporting talent. Laughing at her boyfriend's antics, Hermione soon joined him and they had a great couple of hours making use of the practically deserted ice-rink. By the time their session was over, the queue for the rink was starting to build and Hermione was pleased they'd been so early.

"How about a cup of hot chocolate before we get back?" Draco suggested as they exited the rink.

"Sounds perfect," Hermione replied, snuggling up beside her boyfriend as they headed for the café next to the park.

One warm, delicious hot chocolate later the couple made their way into a quiet alley and apparated back to Hogsmeade. Since it was still early, they strolled around the shops for a while before heading back up to the castle where they spent the rest of the day curled up beside the fire in the head dorms. It had been a perfect first date, and well worth the wait.


	10. Jumper

Jumper.

"Don't look so nervous, they won't bite," Hermione said to her boyfriend with a laugh.

The couple were currently outside of The Burrow's back garden on Christmas Eve, and Draco was having last minute nerves over spending the afternoon with the family of redheads. Even though he'd met them all since he and Hermione had left school in the summer, he was still nervous about going to their home.

"Why are you so nervous, anyway?" Hermione asked. "It's not as if you haven't met them. You know Harry, Ron and Ginny from school. You met Molly and Arthur over the summer, along with the rest of the family. You even attended Fred and George's wedding with me last month."

"Who can forget that?" Draco chuckled. The previous month he'd been with Hermione as they watched the twins marry their girlfriends, Angelina and Alicia, in a joint ceremony. Draco had never been to a double wedding before, and needless to say it had been entertaining considering who the grooms were.

"Typical Fred and George, doing everything together," Hermione replied with a fond smile.

"I hope they didn't do everything together," Draco said. "Please say they went on separate honeymoons."

"I have no idea," Hermione said with a shrug. "But enough about Fred and George. Why are you so nervous about this afternoon when you've already met the family?"

"Meeting them is very different to spending a whole afternoon with them," Draco pointed out. "Especially in their house. What if I say something to offend them without meaning to? I'm not used to playing nice with people."

"You can be perfectly polite when you want to be," Hermione argued. She knew Draco had a tendency to say what he was thinking without bothering if he offended anyone, but she also knew he was capable of controlling himself and being super polite. "Just think before you speak."

Draco nodded his head determinedly. "I can do that."

Satisfied that her boyfriend was ready for an afternoon at The Burrow, Hermione took hold of his hand and led him into the Weasleys back garden. By the time they reached the back door, it was already open and Ginny was waiting to greet them.

"Hi Ginny," Hermione cried, giving the younger girl a hug. "How's school?"

"Nearly over, thank Merlin," Ginny answered with a grin. "I had no idea just how much time I spent with you lot. Now you're gone, I feel so alone."

"What about Luna, you spent plenty of time with her?" Hermione questioned.

"Yeah, there's always Luna," Ginny said with a smile. Over the last couple of years she'd become rather close with the blonde Ravenclaw, and she considered Luna her best female friend after Hermione. "Anyway, come in and make yourselves at home. Hello, Draco."

"Ginny." Draco gave Ginny a smile as he entered the Weasleys kitchen and looked around.

Unlike the family kitchen at the manor, which was rarely used by the family as most of their meals were prepared in the large kitchen manned by the house elves, he could tell the Weasleys kitchen was a main part of their home. The large kitchen table was overflowing with plates of party food, and on one of the benches sat a beautifully decorated Christmas cake.

"We're all in the front room, come on through," Ginny said, turning and leading the way out of the kitchen.

Draco followed his girlfriend as they entered the living room, where the Weasleys were gathered. The second they entered the room, Hermione was swamped by the redheads, and Draco quickly lost his girlfriend in the crowds. Much to his surprise, he was also greeted warmly, and no-one appeared to have a problem with his presence.

"Can I get either of you a drink?" Arthur asked as the young couple were squeezed onto a sofa next to Harry and Ron. "We've got a bowl of festive punch, freshly made today."

"Punch sounds lovely, Arthur," Hermione replied with a smile, as Draco also agreed to have some punch.

"Just watch out for the kick," Harry whispered to the blond as Arthur went to get the drinks.

"Kick? Is it strong?" Draco asked.

"Yeah," Fred answered with a grin. "Dad makes a wicked punch."

A minute later, Draco found out just how strong the punch was when Arthur handed him a glass. One sip was enough for the blond to realise the older wizard had packed all sorts of alcohol into his drink, although it was very tasty. He would just have to make sure he didn't drink too much. Somehow he didn't think getting drunk would be the best way to impress the Weasleys.

"I've bought all your Christmas presents," Hermione said, gesturing to a large Christmas bag that sat beside her feet. She'd taken one sip of her punch and placed it to one side to slowly drink over the course of the afternoon.

"We've got yours as well," Molly said, taking the bag from Hermione and exchanging it from one from under the tree. "Everyone's is in there. We thought it was easier than giving you dozens of bags."

"Thanks," Hermione replied with a smile as she had a quick poke about in the bag. While the majority of presents were for her, there were a few for her boyfriend as well, which pleased Hermione as it showed the Weasleys were accepting of him being a part of her life.

"Well now everyone's here, I think it's time we all opened a gift," Molly suddenly announced. "Then we can eat."

"Why can't we eat first?" Ron questioned.

"Because I say we're going to open presents first," Molly insisted.

Getting to her feet, she pulled a large sack from behind the armchair in the corner, and began to hand out presents. A minute later, everyone was holding a present in their hands. Everyone's present was roughly the same shape and size, and was soft to the touch.

"Go ahead, open them," Molly urged. She also had a present in her lap, as did Arthur.

"I wonder what it could be," George remarked sarcastically as people began to rip into their presents.

By the laughter that followed George's comment, Draco was guessing whatever they all had was something the family got ever year and the present wasn't a surprise to anyone else but him. Not wanting to appear ungrateful, Draco opened his present and stared dumbfounded at what he saw. What he'd unwrapped was a hand-knit, green jumper with a large silver dragon emblem on the front.

Looking up from his present, he found everyone else had received homemade jumpers. Hermione's jumper was red, with a book on the front. Harry had a black jumper with a golden snitch on the front. Ron's jumper was bright orange, with a figure on a broomstick, while Ginny's was gold with a lion on. The twins both had their names plastered across their jumpers, possibly so that Molly could tell them apart, while Alicia and Angelina both had jumpers with the letter 'A' on the front. Percy's jumper was blue with a cauldron on the front, Bill's was yellow with a goblin, and Charlie's was similar to Draco's with a dragon on the front. Bill's wife, Fleur, had a pale blue jumper with a snowflake on, and Percy's fiancée, Audrey also had a snowflake on a pale pink jumper. Molly and Arthur also had Christmas themed jumper, with Molly's red offering sporting a Christmas pudding, and Arthur's blue jumper featuring a Christmas tree.

"Merry Christmas, everyone," Arthur cried as he pulled his jumper on.

Draco watched in fascination as everyone else began to pull their jumpers on. Even Harry and Hermione pulled their jumpers on, after exchanging an amused grin. Soon Draco was the only one not wearing his jumper.

"Do you not like it?" Molly kindly asked Draco.

"No, I love it," Draco lied without thinking.

"I hope it's the right size, Hermione told me what size you wore, but there was some guessing involved," Molly replied. "The more I make for you, the better I get at getting your size right."

"I'm sure it's fine," Draco reassured the older witch.

"Put it on then," George urged with a mischievous smirk.

"Yeah, come on Malfoy, join in the festive spirit," Fred added.

Removing the jumper from the wrapping paper, Draco pulled it on over his shirt. Fortunately, the jumper fit perfectly. Unfortunately, it was something that Draco would never normally dream of being caught wearing.

"That's more like it," Charlie said with a chuckle. "Welcome to the family, Draco."

Draco was surprised by Charlie's words, but then it occurred to him what making him a jumper signified from Molly. She was sending him, and everyone else, a sign saying he was now part of the family. Just like Harry and Hermione, he'd been embraced by the Weasleys, and he had their approval.

"Now we can eat," Molly announced.

Ron immediately jumped up and bolted for the kitchen. Everyone else gradually followed, until Draco and Hermione were practically alone in the front room.

"Thank you," Hermione said, giving Draco a peck on the cheek.

"What for?" Draco asked.

"This." Hermione smiled as she ran her hand down Draco's arm, plucking at the woollen jumper he was wearing. "I know this isn't your thing, but thank you for wearing it."

"It would be impolite to refuse such a thoughtful gift," Draco replied. "Besides, as long as no-one else sees me, I can live with it," He added in a whisper.

Unfortunately, Draco had spoken far too soon as Fred and George reappeared in the front room with a camera. Grabbing the blond, the pair dragged him over to stand in front of the tree, while throwing the camera to Hermione.

"Get a picture of this," Fred called, slinging his arm around Draco's shoulder, while George did the same at his other side.

"You can't be serious," Draco grumbled, trying to get away from the twins but finding it impossible.

"We are," George replied, grinning as Hermione raised the camera. "Say cheese, Malfoy."

Deciding it was best to just give in, Draco stopped struggling with the twins and allowed Hermione to take their photograph. Hermione actually took several pictures and when Fred took the camera back, Draco just knew his friends were going to see them. Now everyone was going to know he'd spent his Christmas Eve wearing a Weasley jumper.


	11. Kisses under the Mistletoe

Kisses under the Mistletoe.

As she bustled around the house, making sure everything was ready for the party they were going to host that evening, Hermione muttered to herself about her absent husband. Draco had disappeared, supposedly to get more alcohol, hours ago and Hermione was starting to get annoyed with him. It was their first Christmas as a married couple, so they'd decided to throw a party for their friends and family, and now her husband had vanished when she needed his help. Not at all impressed with her husband, Hermione was still annoyed ten minutes later when she heard the front door.

"I'm back," Draco called as he entered the house and deposited the alcohol he'd bought in the kitchen.

"About time," Hermione replied from the dining room, where she was laying out the last of the party food.

"Sorry, I got talking," Draco said, poking his head into the dining room and smiling at his wife. "But everything's looking great here."

"It should be the work I've put into getting things perfect," Hermione muttered.

"There's just one thing missing," Draco told his wife as he pulled some mistletoe from behind his back.

"Mistletoe? Really?" Hermione questioned as she swept past her husband and entered the front room.

"What's wrong with mistletoe?" Draco asked with a pout, following his wife into the living room. "I can hang it up here," He said, looking up at the spot above the door.

"No," Hermione said, shaking her head. "If you have to hang it up, put it in front of the window or something. I don't want it in the doorway where Blaise will hang around trying to catch unsuspecting witches underneath it."

"I think you're forgetting my best friend is now a married man," Draco said with a chuckle as he set about hanging the mistletoe in front of the window.

"And you seriously think that would stop him trying to get a kiss under the mistletoe?" Hermione retorted. "Blaise wouldn't cheat on Daphne, but he'd be happy to have a few Christmas kisses."

"I guess you're right," Draco conceded as he thoughtfully looked up at the mistletoe he'd just hung. "Maybe this isn't such a good idea. I don't want Blaise trying to catch either you or mother under the mistletoe. I should take it down again."

"It's up now, so just leave it," Hermione said to her husband, before sweeping out of the room and heading off upstairs to get dressed.

Draco took another final look at the mistletoe, before deciding Hermione was right and he should leave it where it was. Turning to follow his wife upstairs to get changed for the party, Draco missed the magical golden glow that pulsed from the mistletoe, forming a semi-circle in front of the window.

 **...**

"Draco!"

Draco was just coming down the stairs when he heard his wife shouting for him. Heading into the front room, he was bemused to find his wife standing in front of the window, her hands on her hips as she glared at him.

"Don't tell me it's snowing," Draco said as he glanced out of the window. It was just over a week before Christmas and it was certainly cold enough for snow, but Draco was hoping it would hold off for a few more days so they could have a white Christmas.

"It's not snowing," Hermione replied. "But I'm stuck."

"Stuck?" Draco frowned as he advanced towards his wife. However, he'd barely moved into the room when he felt an invisible force grab hold of him and he found himself walking over to Hermione as though he was being lured in by something. "What was that?" He questioned as he came to halt an inch in front of his wife.

"I think it's this," Hermione answered, glancing upwards. "I was putting a bauble back on the tree that Holly must have knocked off, and the next thing I know, I'm being sucked towards the mistletoe and now I can't move."

"It's obviously enchanted," Draco mused. "Maybe a kiss will free us."

"That is the logical conclusion," Hermione agree. "But I then think we need to take it down before anyone arrives. If this thing is just sucking people towards up, anyone could end up kissing."

"I don't know, that could be fun," Draco said with a grin.

"Would you still think its fun if you got stuck under the mistletoe with Molly?" Hermione questioned with an arched eyebrow. In actual fact she knew Molly wouldn't be at the party as her and Arthur were babysitting their grandchildren so their children could attend the party.

Draco shuddered at the image his wife had placed in his head. "Okay, this thing is coming down. But first of all, we need to free ourselves."

"The horrors of mistletoe," Hermione joked as she wrapped her arms around Draco's neck and pulled him down into a searing kiss.

One hot kiss later the couple felt the pull of the mistletoe snap, and they were finally able to move out from under the plant. However, when Draco tried to remove the mistletoe, it wouldn't budge. No amount of magic could remove it, nor was it moving when Draco tried to physically tear it from the ceiling.

"Where the hell did you get this mistletoe?" Hermione asked her husband, as she checked the time and realised people were going to start arriving any minute.

"The twins," Draco replied. "And when they get here, I'm going to kill them. They clearly knew it was enchanted when they sold it to me."

"You should know better than to buy anything from the twins," Hermione said to her husband with a resigned shake of her head. "Just try and steer people away from the mistletoe and when the twins arrive, hopefully they'll know how to remove it."

Unfortunately for the young couple things weren't quite as simple as that. It was only inevitable that once people started to arrive that they lost track of keeping people away from the mistletoe. Although with the pull the mistletoe had, it sucked people in from nearly halfway across the room. Within ten minutes of people starting to arrive, several people had been sucked under the mistletoe. It was just lucky that their partners were all nearby to rescue them and no awkward kisses had ensued.

However, all that changed shortly after Draco's parents arrived with his godfather, Severus. The trio had wandered into the front room, when Narcissa had found herself sucked under the mistletoe. However, Severus was nearer to Narcissa than Lucius, so he ended up being sucked under the mistletoe with the wife of his best friend.

"Draco, what is going on?" Lucius demanded when his wife and friend was trapped under the mistletoe unable to move.

"It's enchanted mistletoe," Draco explained with a sigh. "You can only get out from underneath it by kissing whoever is there with you. But please, let me leave before any kissing ensues."

"It's just a little kiss Draco," Narcissa laughed, before she grabbed Severus by his shirt and pulled him down into a deep kiss, which was far more than an innocent peck.

"Bloody hell," Draco groaned, turning away from the sight as Lucius started turning purple with jealously.

Leaving his father to deal with the fact Narcissa and Severus had just shared a steamy kiss, Draco headed off to see if the twins had arrived. As luck would have it, he'd just left the front room when Hermione appeared with Fred, George and their wives, Alicia and Angelina.

"How's the mistletoe working out?" Fred asked with a mischievous smirk.

"Great," Draco snarled. "I've just witnessed my mother snogging my godfather in front of my father."

"Lucky Snape," George remarked with a grin. "I wonder if I can catch Narcissa under the mistletoe."

"Why does everyone want to kiss my mother?" Draco asked in despair. When Blaise had arrived and found out about the mistletoe, the first thing he'd wondered was if he'd be able to catch Narcissa for a kiss.

"She's hot," Fred replied. "She may be older, but she's in great shape."

"Why did I ask," Draco muttered to himself. "Can you just get rid of it for us, before something truly embarrassing happens?"

"Sorry, no can do," George informed Draco with a chuckle. "It's enchanted so that once it's up it won't come down until all the magic has worn out."

"And how long will that take?" Hermione questioned.

"It varies," Fred answered with a shrug. "The more intense the kiss, the more magic it uses up. So basically, you need to get as many steamy kisses going as you can. And let me volunteer to help you Hermione."

Before Draco realised what was going on, Fred had taken hold of Hermione's hand and pulled her into the front room. Darting under the mistletoe, Fred grinned happily as the magic attached itself to Hermione and pulled her towards him.

"Don't you dare kiss my wife," Draco ordered as he followed Fred and Hermione into the front room. George, Alicia and Angelina followed him, although much to his chagrin, Alicia was unconcerned with her husband being under the mistletoe with someone who wasn't her.

"But then we'd have to stay here forever," Fred said with a grin. "A kiss is the only way to escape the clutches of the mistletoe."

"Make it a little one," Draco warned, watching the pair with narrowed eyes.

"I don't know the meaning of the word little," Fred announced with a grin, as he pulled Hermione into his arms and planted his lips over hers.

Draco growled slightly at the sight of another man kissing his wife, and the second the spell from the mistletoe faded, Draco grabbed hold of Hermione's hand and dragged her far away from the front room, with the sound of laughter from the twins and their wives following after them.

"There's no need to be jealous, Draco," Hermione said with an affectionate smile. "You're a much better kisser than Fred."

"I just don't like you kissing anyone else," Draco muttered. "You'll have to try and stay away from the mistletoe."

"I'll try," Hermione vowed. "But you have to do the same. I don't like the idea of you kissing anyone else either."

"Fine with me," Draco said with a nod. "We'll both steer clear of the mistletoe."

For a few hours the couple did managed to avoid the mistletoe. Although their friends didn't, and they were having a lot of fun seeing who they could get under the mistletoe. Lucius even got in on the act, and he managed to get kisses of all of Draco and Hermione's closest female friends. Much to Draco's annoyance, Narcissa was even cornered a few times, including once with Blaise.

"Thank Merlin this party is nearly over," Draco whispered to Hermione as people started to leave. "It's exhausting trying to avoid the front room."

"It is," Hermione agreed. "But I think we're managing quite well."

As the party continued to wind down, the couple were left with their closest friends and family. That was when they ventured back into the front room, and within minutes Draco was sucked under the mistletoe with Angelina. Watching Angelina and Draco kiss, Hermione was filled with the same sort of jealousy her husband had been filled with earlier, although she resisted the temptation to drag him out of the room. However, a few minutes later she wished she had taken Draco out of the room when she got too close to the mistletoe and ended up sucked back underneath it.

"Not again," Hermione muttered. "Draco get over here."

Draco headed over to his wife, but he was puzzled when he didn't feel the tug of the mistletoe. However, he carried on over to his wife and planted a heated kiss on her lips. When the couple then made to leave the vicinity of the mistletoe, Hermione found she still couldn't leave.

"Did we forget to mention, the spell only releases when two new people kisses underneath it," Fred said with a chuckle. "If you two have already kissed underneath the mistletoe, Hermione will need to kiss someone else to free herself."

"I'll volunteer," Blaise called.

"No," Draco practically shouted, darting forward and grabbing hold of his best friend's arm to stop him moving too close to his wife.

However, as Draco grabbed hold of Blaise, he knocked into Severus, sending his godfather into the pull of the mistletoe. Much to everyone's hilarity, Severus was then sucked into the mistletoe's range and he ended up in front of Hermione.

"Well this is sorted," George chuckled. "One kiss from Snape and Hermione is free."

"This is unbelievable," Draco grumbled. It was bad enough to see his godfather kissing his mother, now he had to watch him kiss his wife.

"Go on Hermione, give him a kiss," Ginny urged with a giggle.

"Yeah, there could be worse people to stuck under the mistletoe with," Daphne chuckled. "Severus is pretty hot for an older man."

"Daphne," Blaise scolded, frowning at his wife.

"She's right," Pansy added. "And he's a good kisser. I was under the mistletoe with him earlier."

"Exactly how many of these girls have you kissed Severus?" Lucius asked.

"No more than you, Lucius," Severus replied with a sly smirk.

"Disgusting," Draco murmured. "Now will you please kiss so I can have my wife back."

Draco turned away as Hermione leant up and connected her lips with Severus's. The kiss was met by clapping and cheering by everyone who was still at the party, and the noise got louder when the mistletoe then fell from the ceiling as Hermione and Severus quickly separated following their very awkward kiss.

"See, the spells ended," Fred declared. "There's being a hell of a lot of passion at this party."

"Well now the passion is confined to Hermione and I," Draco announced as his wife walked over to him and nestled herself in his arms. "And there will be no more mistletoe in this house."

"Looks like next year we'll be throwing the party with the mistletoe," Blaise said with a chuckle. "This has been fun, we need to do it again."

"I'll not be doing it again," Hermione whispered to Draco. "You're the only wizard I'm ever going to kiss again."

"Good," Draco replied with a grin as he gave Hermione a steamy kiss. From now on the couple were only planning on kissing each other under the mistletoe, as it was far better than kissing anyone else.


	12. Lights

Lights.

Hermione looked at the large tree standing in the corner of the front room and the bags of decorations standing next to it, and wondered if she was doing the right thing in leaving her husband and children in charge of decorating the tree. Hermione and her mother had arranged to go out Christmas shopping, but the twins had been pestering her to put the Christmas tree up. Draco had insisted he could supervise the twins while Hermione still went out with her mother, but Hermione wasn't as sure. The last thing she wanted to do was return to chaos after a long shopping trip.

"Stop worrying," Draco told his wife, spotting the concerned frown on her face. "The twins and I can manage to decorate the tree."

"I know," Hermione replied. "Just don't forget about the special baubles."

"Don't worry, they'll have pride of place as normal," Draco reassured his wife. "Now stop fussing and get ready. Your mother will be here any minute."

Resolving to stop worrying, and just let her husband and children have fun with the tree, Hermione headed off to finish getting ready. By the time she'd slipped on her shoes and jacket and sorted her bag, there was a knock on the door. Draco opened the door and welcomed his parents-in-law into the house.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked, giving her father a hug.

"I had nothing on so I thought I would come and spend the day with Draco and the kids," Richard replied. "I hope that's okay."

"Of course it is," Draco said, smiling at his father-in-law. "You can help us with the tree. It has to be perfect, you know."

"Of course it does, my daughter is a perfectionist after all," Richard chuckled.

"Okay, we're leaving now," Hermione said, deciding to escape before her father and husband started comparing notes on her.

After saying goodbye to the two nine year olds and their husbands, Hermione and Jean headed off to do some Christmas shopping. Even though Jean had visited wizarding shops before, she felt more comfortable in the muggle world, so the pair were heading to a muggle shopping centre. With that in mind, Jean had brought the car and the two women got in and headed off for a fun day of retail therapy while their husbands looked after the mischievous Malfoy twins.

Several hours later, Hermione and Jean headed home with plenty of shopping. Jean was fairly certain her Christmas shopping was now all done. Hermione also thought the bulk of her shopping was done, but she knew that she would likely keep buying for the twins until the last minute.

"They're so spoilt," Hermione said to her mother. "What I got today should really be enough, but I bet they end up with loads more."

"I was the same with you," Jean replied. "I'd buy everything I wanted by the middle of December, but I'd still then spend the next few weeks adding to your presents."

"Next year I might leave my shopping until the last minute, so I don't add extras to it," Hermione said with a slight chuckle.

"I bet that wouldn't work," Jean said, laughing along with her daughter. "You'd only end up buying the extras first."

"Probably," Hermione agreed.

As the pair neared the village where Draco and Hermione lived, conversation drifted to the decorations that were popping up all over the place. Even the small village the Malfoys lived on the outskirts of had gone all out and there was a large Christmas tree in the centre of the village and lights strung up outside all the shops.

"It looks like some of your neighbours have been getting into the festive spirit as well," Jean chuckled, gesturing to the sparkling lights ahead of them.

Even though they weren't close enough to see exactly what the lights were, it was clear a house had been practically covered with Christmas lights. Hermione was guessing one of the houses nearby had gone wild with their Christmas decorations.

"Some people are so over the top," Hermione said with an amused shake of the head.

"They are," Jean agreed. "There's just no need for it really."

A few minutes later as they got even closer to home, Hermione began to get a bad feeling about the house with all the Christmas lights. There were a few houses on the outskirts of the village, but they were all pretty decently spaced, and by her reckoning there wasn't another house nearby that could be lit up with lights. If the house belonged to one of their neighbours, it should have either been closer to them or further away.

"Hermione," Jean said quietly. "I don't want to upset you dear, but I think that's your house."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Hermione whispered. "But it can't be. Draco would never be that crazy."

"Your father would," Jean confessed. "He's wanted to do our house like that for years, but I would never let him."

"So you think he's done it to mine instead?" Hermione questioned.

"We're going to find out any minute," Jean replied.

Two minutes later, Hermione and Jean's fears were recognised as they reached Hermione's house and pulled up outside of a brightly lit house. Still slightly stunned, Hermione got out of the car and gazed up at her house. The windows and front door were surrounded by fairy lights, and on the roof was a giant illuminated Santa's sleigh complete with reindeer. On the walls of the house were more lights, in the shapes of bells and Christmas trees. Even the garden had been decorated and the front path was lined with more fairy lights and in the front garden stood two giant illuminated snowmen, both of which also moved.

"Oh my god," Jean whispered at her daughter's side. "How on earth did they manage this in the few hours we were out?"

"Magic," Hermione announced. There was no doubt in her mind that Draco had used magic to accomplish the feat.

"It's garish, but I bet the kids love it," Jean remarked.

Right on cue the front door flew open and Scorpius and Lyra ran down the garden path.

"Mum, Mum, do you like the lights?" Lyra called.

"Aren't they cool?" Scorpius questioned with a grin as he turned and looked up at the house in delight.

"That's one word for them," Hermione muttered.

"They're brill," Scorpius continued, undeterred by his mother's less than enthusiastic response. "I bet you can see the house from space."

"I bet you can," Jean said in amusement. "Do you want to get your bags from the car, Hermione?"

"In a minute, first I want answers," Hermione said, marching towards the front door.

Entering the house she found her husband and father sitting in the front room, sharing a beer and laughing over something. When she entered the room, their laughter ceased and they both got eerily similar guilty looks on their face.

"Did you have a nice day, sweetheart?" Richard asked as Jean and the twins entered the room behind Hermione.

"I was having a lovely day until I returned to find my house looking like Blackpool Illuminations," Hermione replied.

"What?" Draco frowned, not understanding the muggle reference.

"The lights, Draco," Hermione said. "Do you want to explain?"

"It's simple really, when we got the lights out for the tree they weren't working," Draco began. "Richard pointed out that muggles do better lights, so we popped into the muggle world to get new lights."

Hermione turned to the tree and saw it was perfectly decorated, complete with lights. "And the lights for the tree are nice. But why do we have them all over the house?"

"The kids spotted some of the large lights, and I couldn't say no," Draco said with a shrug.

Hermione raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her husband, before turning to face her father. "And you had nothing to do with this? You didn't encourage them?"

"Of course I didn't," Richard protested.

"Richard," Jean warned in a low voice. "Tell the truth. Did you encourage this? Bearing in mind, you've been trying to do this at home for over twenty years."

"I may have encouraged the twins," Richard admitted sheepishly, while Draco's mouth dropped open and he looked at his father-in-law in amazement.

"You Slytherin," Draco declared, his amazement turning to awe. "That is so sneaky, decorating our house because you're not allowed to do it at home. Richard, I'm impressed."

"Impressed?" Jean frowned. "You've been conned into turning your house into a light display, and you're impressed?"

"It's a Slytherin thing," Hermione told her mother. "They love sneakiness of any sort. Lucius is just the same, he would be thrilled with Dad. It's also why Draco and his friends get on so well with the Weasley twins, they're all so deliciously devious."

"You're not going to make us take the lights down, are you, Mum?" Scorpius asked.

"No, you can't do that," Lyra cried. "I love the lights."

"No, I won't make you take them down," Hermione said with a sigh. As much as the display was too over the top for her liking, she wasn't going to upset the twins by removing it.

"Thanks Mum, you're the best," Lyra said, hugging Hermione before she headed back outside with Scorpius to look at the lights again.

The adults followed the twins outside, and Hermione got her shopping from her mother's car. As she removed her shopping, she looked at the house again and had to admit her father and husband had done a pretty spectacular job. While it wasn't something she ever would have agreed with, she could appreciate the effort that had gone into erecting the lights. Even using magic, it wouldn't have been easy to get everything in place.

"Mum, can we invite Alex over?" Scorpius cried. "I want to show him the lights."

"Why don't we see if everyone can come over tomorrow night," Hermione suggested. "We may as well show off our lights to everyone."

"Cool," Scorpius cried, as they headed back inside to see if their friends could come over and enjoy the unexpected Malfoy Illuminations.


	13. Mistaken Identity

Mistaken Identity.

"Come on, Draco."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

"The twins will love it."

"No."

"I'll love it."

"No."

"Please, its one little thing. Just for a few hours."

"No."

"Why not?"

Draco looked pointedly at his wife, before focusing on the outfit she had lying on the bed. "Where to begin? First of all it's red, I don't do red. Secondly, it looks bloody hot in there. And thirdly, I don't do dressing up."

"Please, you've dressed up before," Hermione snorted. "And it's only for a few hours. Just long enough to give the twins a bit of a surprise."

"They're two," Draco argued. "They're not going to know who I'm supposed to be."

"They're two, not stupid," Hermione shot back. "Believe me, they'll recognise Santa when they see him."

"Believe me, they won't be seeing him tonight," Draco replied with a snort. "No way in hell will I be wearing that thing."

"Grinch," Hermione snarled at her husband, who just stared at her in bemusement, not understanding the muggle reference. "Damn it Draco, you're so irritating sometimes. Just suck it up and put the damn outfit on. Surely your kids are worth a few hours of discomfort."

"Don't try and guilt trip me, Hermione," Draco warned. "It won't work."

"Of course it will," Hermione replied with a laugh as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck. "We both know that when it comes to the kids, you're a soft touch. I'm going to go back downstairs to check on your mother and the twins, and when I come back in ten minutes, you're going to be wearing the outfit ready to give the twins a treat."

"And if I'm not?" Draco asked with a frown.

"You wouldn't want to find out," Hermione said, giving her husband a quick warning glare before she turned and sauntered out of the room.

Draco turned back to the suit and let out a growl of frustration. As much as he hated to admit it, Hermione was right. He didn't want to let the twins down, so he would likely give in and do as Hermione asked. Unless of course he could find some other sucker to take his place without his wife noticing.

"That's it," Draco suddenly declared as a brainwave struck him. He knew exactly who could fill in for him, and if he played his cards right, Hermione would never know about the switch.

Swiftly exiting the bedroom, he snuck downstairs and cornered his unsuspecting victim coming out of the library. Dragging them back upstairs, Draco set about making sure his kids got to see Santa, while he remained out of a stuffy red suit.

 **...**

Hermione actually gave her husband nearly fifteen minutes before she headed back to their bedroom. When she entered their room, she wasn't the slightest bit surprised to find her husband in the Santa suit. When she entered the room, he was bent over, adjusting the boots that went with the outfit.

"I knew you'd see sense," Hermione crowed. Giving her husband's backside a squeeze she moved up beside him, her hand slipping round his thigh to give his crotch a rub as he stood up slightly with the surprise. "And now you're going to reap the rewards. After the twins are asleep tonight, you can unwrap a present of your own. When you come to bed, all I'll be wearing is a strategically placed ribbon."

Hermione chuckled as Draco let out a stifled groan, but her laughter stopped when she moved in front of her husband. To the casual observer, she was standing in front of Draco Malfoy in a Santa suit. A pair of steely grey eyes looked back at her, only they didn't belong to her husband. They belonged to her father-in-law, Lucius.

"Lucius," Hermione cried, confirming her theory by whipping off the hat and attached beard and finding her father-in-law grinning at her. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Right now, trying not to picture you wearing nothing but a strategically placed ribbon," Lucius replied with a mischievous twinkle in his grey eyes. "How do you achieve that by the way?"

"Let's forget that happened," Hermione said with a blush. "And let's focus on why you're in the Santa costume, when I asked Draco to do the honours."

"You know my son, he's as devious as they come," Lucius answered with a shrug. "He was hoping you wouldn't notice it wasn't him."

"How thick does he think I am?" Hermione snorted. "I can tell the difference between my husband and my father-in-law."

"Really?" Lucius cocked a platinum blond eyebrow at his daughter-in-law. "Not two minutes ago you had your hand on my crotch, and you noticed nothing. And don't forget the fact you squeezed my bum. Either I'm very fit for my age, or Draco is rapidly in decline."

"It was the suit," Hermione muttered. "How could I tell that I wasn't squeezing Draco through all that red velvet? Anyone could have made the same mistake."

"If you say so," Lucius chuckled. "Personally, I think you just couldn't resist my charms any longer. You wanted to check where Draco got his goods from, didn't you?"

"Can we please stop and refocus," Hermione begged. "How did the pair of you seriously think you would get away with this?"

"Draco told me to barely speak," Lucius admitted. "He reckoned you would come up, gloat about being right and drag him downstairs. He was hoping the beard and the hat, combined with the false voice to imitate Santa would mean you weren't any the wiser."

"Draco, Draco, what an idiot," Hermione tutted. "He should know by now that I'm so much smarter than he is. I'm not going to fall for one of his tricks."

"Should I go and get him?" Lucius asked. "He's hiding out in the spare room."

"No, let him think it's worked," Hermione answered with a wicked smirk. It was time to have a bit of fun with her errant husband. "Put your hat back on and we can go downstairs. We'll keep this between ourselves, as far as Draco is concerned, he pulled it off."

"You've got such a delicious Slytherin streak," Lucius chuckled as he pulled his hat and beard back on and got himself sorted. "Just what have you got planned for my son?"

"Put it this way, he won't be unwrapping his present," Hermione replied, shooting Lucius a wicked smirk before she led the way out of the room, making sure to call him Draco as they passed the spare room.

 **...**

Draco lay on top of the bed covers, wearing nothing but his black silk boxers and a smug smirk. His plan had worked to perfection, and Hermione was none the wiser about his little stunt with the Santa costume. His wife was convinced he'd been playing Santa, not his father. Draco had been a bit worried when Hermione first entered the bedroom and seemed to be in there an age, but Lucius had told him that she just thought he was sulking about having to wear the suit. Luckily, there were no more hitches and the plan went off perfectly. Lucius played Santa for the twins, and afterwards Hermione thanked Draco for giving in and doing what she asked. In fact she was so grateful he was now waiting for his reward.

"Are you ready?" Hermione's voice called from the bedroom.

"I'm ready," Draco called back with glee. He was even more ready since his parents had offered to take the twins for the night, meaning they could have a whole night uninterrupted.

With a flourish the bathroom door opened, and Hermione emerged wearing the most outrageous elf costume he'd ever seen. The green material barely covered her breasts at the top of the dress, and the skirt was so short he could see her green knickers even from the front. On her head was a tiny little hat, and she was wearing a pair of red and white knee length socks. She was also carrying four green silk scarves.

"Is Santa ready for his reward?" She asked in a breathless voice. The elf costume had originally been for another evening, but given what had happened earlier she'd decided it would work better for her plan than the ribbon she planned on using that evening.

"Bring it on," Draco answered with a grin.

Hermione sauntered over to the bed, but when Draco moved to touch her she slapped his hands away. "Bad Santa. You just lie back and let your elf take care of all the work."

Even though bondage wasn't his thing, at least not being the one tied up, Draco settled back and let Hermione tie his hands to the headboard. When his hands were secure, Hermione straddled his chest and leant over as though she was going to give Draco a kiss. However, she merely teased him a bit before turning around and presenting her backside to him as she tied his feet to the bottom of the bed.

"Damn it Hermione, you're being a tease," Draco grunted, practically salivating at the sight of his wife's pert backside barely covered by her lacy green knickers.

"That's the idea," Hermione replied as she turned back around and bent over Draco, giving him a perfect view down her dress. "I want to show you what you're missing tonight."

"Missing?" Draco's face broke into a frown as his wife climbed off him and stood beside the bed watching him with a wicked smile on her face.

"Yes, missing," Hermione said. "Did you really think your little stunt fooled me?"

"Father," Draco growled. "He sold me out."

"No, I can just tell the difference between my husband and his father," Hermione corrected. "You didn't fulfil your end of the bargain Draco, so you don't get a treat. This elf, is out of bounds."

"Wait," Draco called as his wife turned to leave the room. "Where are you going?"

"I thought I might go and watch a film," Hermione replied. "I've got a bottle of wine in the fridge, and your mother bought that posh box of chocolates over."

"And what about me?" Draco asked, pulling on his restraints and finding the more he pulled the tighter they got. "Are you just going to leave me here?"

"Yep. Think of it as your punishment for being a bad Santa. Maybe next year, you'll play along and get the rewards."

Hermione gave her husband her best Malfoy like smirk, before turning and leaving the bedroom. Pulling against the restraints, Draco called after his wife but she didn't return. When wandless magic failed to release him, he slumped back on the bed in defeat. He would just have to wait until Hermione came back and released him. Although he was now regretting his master plan. He should have just worn the costume and reaped the rewards. Now he was stuck tied to the bed, ready for action, and his sexy elf wife was nowhere to be seen. There and then Draco vowed that next Christmas he would wear the damn suit, it would be worth it if Hermione dressed up as a sexy elf again.


	14. Nativity

Nativity.

"So what is this again?" Narcissa whispered to Hermione as the pair took their seats in the muggle church alongside their husbands and Hermione's parents.

"A nativity play," Hermione replied. "And a carol service. Basically the children will sing Christmas carols and songs, and there's a little play based on the birth of Jesus."

"That's the nativity?" Narcissa checked.

"Yes," Hermione answered with a nod. "It's basically the origin of Christmas."

"According to muggles," Narcissa said.

"Yes, according to muggles," Hermione replied. She didn't doubt that the wizarding world had another story about the origin of Christmas, but now wasn't the time to hear it. Right now her focus was on what was about to happen.

Hermione and Draco's four year old twins would both be taking part in the nativity, albeit it in minor roles, and all of the family had shown up to watch. Hermione had been a bit worried about how Lucius and Narcissa would cope being in muggle surroundings for the whole afternoon, but so far they were like any other grandparents at the school. Luckily they weren't totally alien to the muggle world, and while they hadn't adapted as well as Draco, they could cope. Hermione just hoped they managed for the entire afternoon.

"Can we sing along to the songs?" Narcissa asked as she plucked a programme, which contained the songs for the carol service, from the pew in front of her.

"If you know the words," Hermione replied. "But the songs will all be muggle."

"The words are in here," Narcissa said as she flicked through the programme. "I can sing along."

Hermione wasn't sure what to think of Narcissa singing along, but before she said anything, Draco nudged her in the side and when she turned to face her husband he shook his head.

"Don't try and stop her, it only makes her worse," He whispered. "When she starts to sing, just cast a silent spell over yourself so you don't have to listen to her."

"Is she that bad?" Hermione whispered back, glancing at Narcissa and seeing she was in deep conversation with Lucius, therefore wasn't listening to what she and Draco were saying.

"My mother has many talents, but singing isn't one of them," Draco replied.

Hermione wondered how bad Narcissa could be, and unfortunately she soon found out as the service got under way. After the headmaster of the school where the twins attended made a brief welcome speech, the service kicked off with the first carol – Silent Night. When the song first started, Narcissa was pretty quiet as she picked up the tune, but as the song progressed and she felt comfortable to join in, she did so with gusto. Unfortunately for Hermione, Draco was right, and singing was not one of his mother's skills. Narcissa's voice was quite high pitched, not to mention loud, and she was already receiving some odd looks from the people round about. Fortunately, there was just the one song before it was time for the nativity.

The nativity was made up of children in the first year of school, so everyone taking part was only four or five. However, one of the older children was doing the job of narrating, so the youngsters only had a few lines to remember. Even so, Hermione was thoroughly impressed with the youngsters when the play started and the excited children took to the spotlight.

Most of the children ended up waving to their parents when they spotted them, and when Scorpius made his entrance as a shepherd, he was no different. Dressed in his shepherds outfit, he had a stuffed sheep under his arm, and when he saw his parents and grandparents, he waved his sheep at them, causing a few people in the crowd to chuckle warmly at his antics.

"He's a natural," Narcissa whispered to Hermione as Scorpius tucked the sheep back under his arm and focused back on the nativity.

With a smile on her face, Hermione watched the nativity, waiting for Lyra to make her entrance. Lyra was playing an angel, and she made her appearance just after baby Jesus was born. Like Scorpius, she waved excitedly at her parents and grandparents, before focusing fully on her duties as an angel.

When the nativity reached its conclusion, the children received a standing ovation from the entire crowd. From where she was sitting, right in the middle of her family, Hermione thought they could possibly be amongst the loudest of the parents. Draco, Lucius and Richard were certainly clapping and cheering loudly, and when they sat down Hermione heard Lucius boasting to the woman he was sitting next to that his grandchildren were the stars of the show.

With the nativity over, the children settled down in their seats and the rest of the carol service got going. The children had clearly been practising their songs as Hermione noticed the twins singing their little hearts out as they sat looking adorable in their outfits. Unfortunately for Hermione, the longer the carol service went on for, the more confidence Narcissa was gaining in her singing. A couple of times she even started singing from the beginning of the song, resulting in her singing totally out of tune and having to adjust herself when she realised what the right tune was.

"Told you," Draco whispered with a smirk as his mother murdered 'Away in a Manger' beside Hermione.

Finally the service drew to a close, and the twins came running over to their family, as the other children rushed over to theirs. While everyone praised the twins and their performances, Jean pulled out a camera and she took a series of pictures of the twins in their outfits.

"Okay, I have to go and sign you out with your teacher," Hermione said. "Do you want to go and get changed, or are you staying as you are?"

"I'm an angel," Lyra cried, twirling round in her floaty white dress, golden wings and halo hair-band.

"And I want to stay a shepherd," Scorpius said. "I want to show Alex."

"Okay, go and get your bags with your Daddy, and I'll go and see your teacher," Hermione instructed.

Ten minutes later the Malfoys and Grangers were leaving the muggle church, alongside a gaggle of other children and their parents. Hermione had signed the twins out with their teacher, meaning the school wouldn't worry that they'd lost them, while Draco had gathered their bags which contained the normal clothes they'd been wearing that morning.

"Since the pair of you were so good today, I thought we could all go and get some hot chocolate," Hermione announced.

"Yeah, chocolate," Scorpius cheered.

"You are coming, aren't you?" Hermione checked with her parents-in-law. Since they were in the nearby muggle town, where the twins went to school, Hermione was planning on just going to a nearby café for treats.

"Of course we are. We're not going to go and abandon out little stars," Lucius replied, swinging Lyra up into his arms. Lyra giggled and snuggled into her grandfather as the family made their way to a nearby cage, where they celebrated the twins' first nativity with hot chocolate and warm mince pies.


	15. Outside in the Snow

Outside in the Snow.

A week before Christmas in the large snow covered gardens of Malfoy Manor, there was a fierce contest going on between the Malfoys and the Zabinis to see who could build a better snow sculpture. On one side of things there was eight year old Scorpius, and his father, Draco. While the Zabinis were represented by Scorpius's best friend Alex, and his father, Blaise. The two father and son teams were determined to outdo one another.

Luckily not everyone was as competitive as the boys. Scorpius's twin sister, Lyra, was content to stay out of the snowman battle and make snow angels with the Zabinis youngest child, five year old, Amy. Hermione and Daphne were also refusing to join in with their husbands and sons, instead choosing to sit on a bench, chatting with Draco's mother, Narcissa. Of course the bench had been magically heated and was charmed not to feel the cold.

However, Lucius couldn't resist getting involved in the snow sculpture building competition. Initially he'd been going to help team Malfoy, but when Blaise complained he'd decided to oversee the competition, and he'd even dragged his best friend, Severus Snape, into proceedings to help him judge the winner.

"You know, this is gravely unfair," Blaise complained when Lucius and Severus strolled along to check on team Zabinis progress.

"What's unfair?" Lucius asked.

"You two, judging the competition," Blaise replied. "We all know who's going to win with you two in charge."

"Are you saying we're biased, Blaise?" Severus questioned with a raised eyebrow. "You should know me better than that."

"Please, you were biased in school," Blaise snorted. "I was just lucky enough to be in Slytherin so it never bothered me that you favoured us. But in this contest, Alex and I are at a distinct disadvantage."

"Nonsense," Lucius replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You're like a second son to be me, Blaise, and Alex is like another grandson. I have no partiality here."

"Nor do I," Severus said.

Blaise rolled his eyes at the two men. He knew Lucius actually meant what he said about considering him and Alex family, as Draco's family had welcomed him with open arms when they became friends back in school. Truth be told, Blaise considered Lucius and Narcissa more like his parents than his actual parents. He'd never met his biological father, and his mother hadn't exactly been reliable. Until he'd been welcomed into the Malfoy family, he'd never really felt as though he'd belonged anywhere, but they'd changed all that and he would always love them for it. However, that didn't mean he honestly thought Lucius would declare him and Alex the winners over Draco and Scorpius.

"Draco's your son and Scorpius is your grandson, of course you're going to declare them winners," Blaise said to Lucius. "And as for you," He said, turning to his former Professor. "Draco's your godson, so again, I would say you were biased."

"Nonsense, this is all very fair," Lucius tutted. "Now get on with it Blaise, or you'll never win."

Grumbling playfully, Blaise turned back to help Alex with the snow sculpture. Of course both Blaise and Draco were using magic to help build their snow sculptures, so they were starting to look pretty impressive. Draco and Scorpius were making a snowman, with his pet dragon, while Blaise and Alex had decided to tackle a Hippogriff.

"You know what, this is missing something," Blaise mused, looking up at their nearly finished sculpture. Glancing over at Draco and Scorpius, who had their work shielded like Blaise and Alex did, a wicked thought entered his head. Turning back to his son, he began to whisper his plan to him and the two Zabinis began to add to their creation.

Half an hour later, both sculptures were finished and Lucius announced it was time for the judging. Eager to see the snow sculptures, Hermione, Daphne and Narcissa joined the men, along with the two girls.

"Who wants to go first?" Lucius asked.

"We will," Draco said. "Scorp, do you want to do the introducing?"

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we present to you a Malfoy and his dragon," Scorpius announced grandly as Draco dropped his shield on the sculpture.

Suddenly standing in the middle of the garden, was a large snow sculpture of a large dragon with a child riding on its back. The child was clearly Scorpius, and Hermione was rather impressed that her husband had managed to capture their son's likeness in snow.

"Wow," Daphne muttered as both Lyra and Amy gasped in awe. "That's stunning."

"We Malfoy men are very creative," Draco boasted.

"We Zabinis are just as creative," Blaise called. "Granted, your dragon is impressive, but it lacks humour."

"Humour?" Draco frowned at his best friend. "Why do snow sculptures need humour? We were going for impressive, and you don't get more impressive than that," He said, gesturing to the snow dragon.

"We'll soon find out," Blaise said with a smirk. "Shall we unveil ours now?"

"Yes, let's check out the competition," Draco said.

"Go on Alex, do the honours," Blaise urged as he prepared to drop the cloaking spell on the sculpture.

"We present, Uncle Draco and the Hippogriff," Alex cried.

When Blaise flicked his wand, Draco's mouth fell open in shock at what he saw. Blaise and Alex had created a large snow Hippogriff, rearing up on its hind legs, and under its front legs, about to be crushed, was a snow figure of Draco himself. Upon seeing the sculpture, everyone burst out laughing, except for Draco who just glared at his best friend.

"Seriously?" He demanded. "Why would you do this?"

"Just re-living old memories," Blaise said with a smirk.

"Do we have to relive memories of me being trampled by that beast?" Draco questioned. "I was seriously hurt."

"No you weren't, you were just being a drama queen," Hermione said to her husband. "Besides, it was all your own fault anyway. Hagrid told you to be careful approaching Buckbeak, but you didn't listen."

"The creature just hated me," Draco protested.

"No, you were just showing off," Blaise said with a chuckle. "You had to prove anything Harry could do, you could do better."

"He's right," Daphne agreed. "You were just trying to show off."

"Isn't anyone on my side?" Draco wailed, turning to his parents and godfather.

"Sorry," Severus said with a chuckle as he checked out team Zabinis sculpture. "But I have to agree, you were just being a little git."

"Charming," Draco huffed, folding his arms over his chest and pouting. "Some friends and family I have."

"Who's the winner?" Alex called as Hermione slid her arm around her husband's waist and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Give the judges a moment to confer," Lucius said as he and Severus stepped off to one side and spoke for a few minutes before coming to a decision.

"We have a winner," Severus announced. "Both sculptures were amazing, but for the humour alone we declare the winners team Zabini."

Alex and Blaise let out whoops of joy at the announcement, while everyone but Draco clapped and cheered for them. However, everyone knew Draco wasn't really offended by the sculpture. If he had been offended, he would have stormed back inside, but he'd remained with everyone, pretending to be annoyed.

"I demand a recount," Draco called.

"I vote Zabini," Lucius said, smirking at his son.

"Me too," Severus said. "And that's your re-count Draco, two-zero in favour of team Zabini."

"Go team Zabini," Blaise cried triumphantly. "Although really we should thank you Draco. You were the star of our sculpture, and without you, we would have lost. Thank you for giving us inspiration."

"I'm so pleased a traumatic incident from my youth is serving you well, Blaise," Draco drawled sarcastically.

"Lighten up, Draco," Blaise said with a laugh as he bent down and picked up a pile of snow in his hands and began shaping it into a ball.

"Don't you dare, Zabini," Draco warned, backing off from his best friend.

"Come on Draco, live a little," Blaise said, launching the snowball at his best friend and accidentally hitting Hermione instead.

"Blaise, you're a dead man," Hermione screamed as the snow dripped down inside her coat. Gathering up her own ball of snow, she launched it at Blaise, but he ducked and the snowball went flying into Severus's head. "Sorry Severus," She cried, trying not to laugh.

"You will be," Severus replied as he gathered his own snowball.

Hermione squealed and dodged out of the way of Severus's snowball, which then hit Draco. Of course Draco then gathered up his own snowball and launched it back at his godfather, before he sent another one at his best friend. Both of Draco's snowballs hit their targets, but they also triggered a full on snowball battle. Within seconds everyone was throwing snowballs at one another, including the four children, and having a thoroughly enjoyable time.

It was nearly twenty minutes later before the snowballs ceased and seven drenched adults stood in the back garden alongside four equally soggy children.

"I think it's time we went back inside and warmed up," Narcissa said, shivering slightly as she felt a trickle of ice slide down her back. "I suggest hot chocolate and mince pies all round."

Narcissa's suggestion was met with enthusiasm all round, and everyone trooped back inside the manor to get warm after a fun afternoon spent playing in the snow.


	16. Pudding Surprise

Pudding Surprise.

"Hermione relax, everything is going to be fine," Draco said, leaning against the kitchen door and watching his girlfriend fuss over the meal she was preparing.

"Fine," Hermione repeated with a snort. "What good is fine? This has to be perfect."

"Hermione, it's just lunch," Draco argued.

"Christmas lunch," Hermione corrected. "Our first Christmas lunch together."

"Technically, that was two years ago in school," Draco pointed out.

Hermione turned to glare at her boyfriend. "Do not get technical on me, Draco. You know what I mean. This is our first Christmas living together, and we've got our parents due to arrive any second. Today has to be perfect."

Refusing to be put off by Hermione's glare, Draco strode over to his girlfriend and pulled her into his arms. "Everything will be just fine, Hermione," He reassured her softly. "The important thing is that we all have fun and enjoy ourselves. Just relax, and things will be great."

Despite her nerves, Hermione felt herself relaxing in Draco's arms. Once she felt more in control, she gave her boyfriend a quick kiss before stepping out of his embrace and continuing on with her cooking. Draco did his best to help, but when he continually had to check with Hermione what to do, she sent her boyfriend out of the kitchen. On her own she managed to get everything sorted, before she headed off upstairs to get ready for their parents arrival.

Hermione had just returned from getting ready, when there was a knock on the door and Draco opened it and let her parents in. Richard was carrying a large bag of presents, while Jean was carrying one of her delicious Christmas puddings. Hermione knew her mother was going to be bringing dessert, as both her parents and Draco's had insisted on helping in some way, so while Jean had made pudding, Lucius was going to be providing the wine.

"The pudding looks lovely, Mum," Hermione said. "Come on through and put in it in the kitchen."

"I hope Draco's parents like Christmas pudding," Jean remarked as she followed her daughter through to the kitchen. "It's a traditional one, so I don't know if wizards have anything similar."

"I'm not sure," Hermione admitted. "But I'm sure Lucius and Narcissa will love it."

"And how are you finding cooking for everyone?" Jean asked her daughter as she settled the pudding safely on one of the kitchen counters.

"It's a breeze," Hermione replied with a smile.

Jean merely chuckled and gave her daughter a quick hug. "It's okay to admit you're nervous. I was a mess when I first made dinner for your father's parents. Then again, I did accidentally cook the turkey with the giblets still inside. Needless to say, we went veggie that year."

"Don't worry, there's no giblets in the turkey," Hermione chuckled.

Heading back into the front room, Hermione and Jean arrived just in time to see the floo network light up and Lucius and Narcissa emerge. Narcissa handed Draco another bag of presents, while Lucius placed several bottles of elf-made wine on the coffee table.

"Seriously Lucius, there's only the six of us, you didn't need to bring a bottle each," Hermione remarked with a chuckle.

"I didn't," Lucius answered with a smirk, as he produced another four bottles from his cloak and placed them on the table along with the others.

"Ten bottles," Draco remarked with a raised eyebrow. "I hope they're not the strong stuff."

"Would I do that?" Lucius questioned, trying to look innocent and failing spectacularly.

"Yes, you would," Draco replied as he pulled out his wand and sent the wine to the kitchen as his parents removed their cloaks and settled down to chat with the Grangers.

While everyone was mingling, Hermione headed back to the kitchen to finish up preparing dinner. Knowing their parents got along just fine, and didn't need supervising, Draco joined Hermione in the kitchen and he helped his girlfriend get everything ready.

"Dinner's served," Draco announced, poking his head back into the front room.

Everyone quickly assembled in the dining room, and Lucius made sure to pour everyone a large glass of wine while Draco settled the last few plates in the centre of the table. Once Hermione had put a large plate of turkey and gravy down for Crookshanks, she joined everyone in the dining room.

"This looks amazing, Hermione," Narcissa said with a warm smile.

"It does," Richard agreed.

"I would taste it first," Hermione said with a chuckle. "Everyone, help yourself."

Dinner was a roaring success, and Hermione was thrilled with how everything had turned out. Everyone enjoyed every aspect of the meal, and no-one had any complaints. No-one complained about the wine either, even though it was pretty strong. Jean and Narcissa nursed their one glass throughout dinner, as did Draco and Hermione, however Lucius and Richard had two whole glasses and Lucius was pouring them both a third as Hermione brought dessert in.

"I can't take credit for this," Hermione said as she dished out the pudding. "Mum made this."

"I'm sure it's lovely, Jean," Lucius said, showering Hermione's mother with a wide smile.

"I hope so," Jean replied, slightly flustered by the attentions of Draco's flirtatious father.

"Behave," Narcissa whispered to her husband as they started to eat their dessert.

Lucius nodded in his wife's direction, but he didn't pay her too much attention as he refocused on the conversation he was having with Richard. As they talked, the group dug into the Christmas pudding, with everyone thoroughly enjoying it. At least Lucius was enjoying it, until he bit down on something extremely hard. Not wanting to offend Jean and cause trouble, Lucius somehow managed to swallow the hard piece of pudding, even though it felt as though he was eating metal.

"Oh, look," Richard suddenly called, poking at something silver in his pudding. "I found the piece of silver."

"Piece of silver?" Lucius questioned with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Mum, you didn't," Hermione gasped, wishing she'd realised that her mother truly had made a traditional pudding, complete with the hidden coins.

"It's tradition," Jean shrugged.

"What's tradition?" Draco asked.

"It's tradition to place a silver coin in the pudding," Hermione explained. "It's said to bring luck to whoever finds it. Mum, how many did you put in?"

"Three," Jean answered. Traditionally only one silver coin was placed in the pudding, but Jean always included more than one.

"Okay, so if Dad's got one, there's two more out there," Hermione said. "Sorry, I would have mentioned it before we started eating if I'd known."

"It's okay," Narcissa said as she carefully poked around in her pudding before daring to eat any more.

"Found one," Draco called, removing a silver coin from his dessert.

"That leaves one more," Hermione said. "And I don't have it."

"Nor do I," Jean said.

"Me either," Narcissa added.

"No more for me," Richard declared.

"I only had the one," Draco said as all attention turned to Lucius, who was sitting staring down at his bowl in horror.

"Lucius," Hermione said. "Do you have a coin in your bowl?"

"No," Lucius replied in a quiet voice. "I ate it."

"You what?" Draco questioned, trying his best not to crack up with laughter.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry Lucius," Jean gasped. "I'm so mortified. I should have said something."

"Are you sure you ate it?" Narcissa checked.

"I'm sure," Lucius replied with a nod.

"Why would you eat it?" Hermione questioned in confusion.

"I didn't know what it was, and I didn't want to be impolite and spit it back out," Lucius confessed. Now he was regretting being polite, and he wished he'd just removed the hard piece of pudding from his mouth regardless of if he was offending anyone.

"So you swallowed it?" Draco questioned, still working overtime to hide his laughter.

"I was being polite," Lucius growled at his son.

"I'm so sorry Lucius," Jean cried. "You have no idea how awful I feel."

"Don't worry about it," Lucius replied with a taut smile. "I'm sure it'll work its way through my system."

"And that's dessert finished with," Draco said with a grimace.

"It happens to the best of us," Narcissa said to her son.

"What, eating coins?" Draco remarked with a laugh.

"You once ate a Knut," Narcissa said to her son.

"I did not," Draco argued in outrage.

"You did," Lucius said with a chuckle. "You were five and didn't want to share with Theo, so you ate the Knut."

"But I was five, not forty five," Draco shot back at his father.

"I think that's enough about the pudding," Narcissa said. "I'm sure Lucius will get his coin in good time, but for now let's enjoy the rest of the day."

"And next year, I'll not put any coins in the pudding," Jean said apologetically.

"No, next year I'll be prepared," Lucius corrected. "Just you wait, next year I won't eat a coin."

"I should hope not," Hermione said, chuckling as everyone began to get up and head into the front room. "Next year everyone will know what to expect from the Christmas pudding."

"Quite right." Lucius nodded in agreement as he wondered if there was some sort of magic he could use to retrieve the coin he'd just ate, he didn't much fancy spending the rest of the day waiting for the coin to make a reappearance. Luckily for Lucius, Narcissa knew such a spell and the pair slipped off to the bathroom to retrieve the coin before everyone swapped Christmas presents.

In the end it really was a very memorable first Christmas in their new house for Draco and Hermione. After all, it wasn't everyday a grown man ate a silver coin he found in his Christmas pudding.


	17. Queuing for Santa

Queuing for Santa.

"Seriously?" Draco looked at his wife in utter disgust, hardly able to believe she'd just suggested what she had.

The pair were currently in a muggle shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon with their six year old twins. It was less than two weeks before Christmas and the shops were far too packed for Draco's liking. However, the crowds in the shops were nothing compared to the crowds at Santa's Grotto, which was where Hermione suggested they went next.

"Yes," Hermione replied with a nod. "We promised."

"Yeah, but that was before we saw the place," Draco argued. "We'll be standing here for hours, Hermione."

Hermione glanced over to the grotto, finding the sign that estimated the time of the current queue. "An hour and a half probably," She said, reading the sign. "Possibly two at the most."

"Two hours?" Draco gave his wife a look that clearly said she was mad. "You want to wait two hours to see some fat bloke in a red velvet suit. Hell, I'd even put on the suit again if it saves us waiting in this queue."

"That won't work anymore," Hermione pointed out. "It was fine when the twins were younger, but they're too smart not to see through the disguise now. They'll know it's you, and all their Christmas illusions will be shattered."

"So instead we have to wait two hours to see some stranger in a red suit?" Draco questioned.

"Yes," Hermione replied with a nod. "Unless you want to break the hearts of your two young children?"

Draco rolled his eyes at his wife's emotional manipulation, but when he turned to where the twins were sitting on a nearby bench, munching on a cookie, he found he didn't have the heart to say they were going home without seeing Santa. Even if it meant two hours of absolute boredom, he would cope if it put smiles on his children's faces.

"Fine, we can do it," Draco reluctantly agreed.

"Of course we can," Hermione replied with a smile. "I always knew you would come round."

"I am far too soft," Draco muttered to himself as Hermione informed the twins that they'd be going in to see Santa when they finished their cookies.

When the twins had finished their cookies, Draco braced himself for the long wait ahead as the family headed towards Santa's Grotto. Part of him wondered if he should leave Hermione to wait with the twins while he did some shopping, but he decided that really wasn't fair on his wife. The twins could be a handful at the best of times, but at Christmas time when they were excited, it would need both of them to keep their eyes on the pair.

After paying for the visit, the Malfoys joined the very long queue to see Santa. The queue was so long that extra candy cane barriers had been erected around the grotto. Just looking at the queue, Draco estimated it would be at least forty minutes before they even reached the outer garden of the grotto.

"Where's Santa?" Lyra questioned, standing on her tiptoes to look around but finding no sign of the man in red.

"He's inside the grotto," Hermione answered. "We have to wait until it's our turn. He's got a lot of boys and girls to see."

"Can't we blast them out of the way?" Scorpius questioned.

"Blast them?" Hermione looked at her son in horror, wondering where he'd gotten such an idea from.

"Yeah, you know, bam, bam, out of the way," Scorpius replied, gesturing wildly with his hands as though he was wielding a weapon of some sort, or more precisely a wand.

"No, we do not blast people out of the way," Hermione told her son.

"Shame," Scorpius muttered.

Tutting at her son, Hermione looked over at her husband to find him smirking slightly. However, the second he realised Hermione was watching him, he dropped the smirk and held up his hands in protest.

"It wasn't me. I don't know where he got that from, but it didn't come from me."

"It was Grandpa Lu," Lyra supplied. "Last week he wanted to blast the people in Diagon Alley, but Nanna Cissa said no."

"I should have known," Hermione grumbled. Of course it would be her father-in-law teaching their son impatience, after all it was where Draco got his inability to be patient from. It was a typical Malfoy trait, to expect not to have to wait for anything, and it would appear Scorpius was well on his way to becoming a true Malfoy in that respect.

"You know, he actually did that once when I was younger," Draco confided to his wife in a quiet voice so the twins didn't overhear and get ideas.

"He didn't," Hermione gasped, unable to believe even Lucius was use magic to get someone out of his way in a shop.

"He did," Draco replied with a chuckle. "It was a few days before Christmas and we were doing some last minute shopping. He'd found some enchanted diary he wanted to get mother, but there was a queue and only one left on the shelf. When he heard the wizard in front of us mention the diary, he used his magic to knock the poor bloke over, and then he snatched the diary from right under his nose."

"Your father is ruthless," Hermione muttered.

"When it comes to his family he is," Draco agreed with a nod.

"Even so, you're not to follow in his footsteps," Hermione warned. "Knocking someone out of the way just to buy a gift isn't acceptable."

"It's no different than these pushy muggles," Draco grumbled quietly. Most of the shoppers they'd encountered were perfectly fine, but they'd witnessed a few people pushing and shoving to get to where they wanted to be. Luckily, no-one had pushed either of the twins, or else both Draco and Hermione would have lost their tempers.

"Christmas shopping can get ugly at times," Hermione conceded. She hadn't actually done much Christmas shopping in the muggle world until they'd had the twins, but over the last few years she'd been reminded of the times she'd been shopping with her mother and the way Jean used to complain about how rude some people could be.

"Not to mention boring," Draco added. "This wait is killing me."

"Cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," Hermione said, sliding her arm through her husband and snuggling up to him.

"Yuck," Scorpius cried when Draco pressed his lips to the top of Hermione's head.

"What's wrong with you?" Hermione asked with a chuckle.

"Don't be so gross," Scorpius replied. "Kissing is yuck."

"Gross?" Draco frowned at his son. "Where did you learn that?"

"Adam," Lyra supplied with Scorpius shrugged his shoulders. Adam was Fred and Alicia's nine year old son, and he'd inherited all of his father and uncle's mischievousness. "Last week he said kissing was gross when Uncle Fred was kissing Aunt Alicia."

"To be fair, most kids find their parents kissing gross," Hermione conceded with a chuckle.

"That wasn't even a kiss," Draco protested with a snort. "Now this is a kiss."

Before Hermione had a chance to react, Draco had turned her around and gave her a deep kiss. Behind them a few people clapped and cheered, while Scorpius moaned, pulling his hat down over his face to hide his embarrassment. Lyra just giggled at her parents, before turning back to their wait.

"Now that livened things up," Draco said with a smirk as they inched forward a few yards.

"I'm not sure it was entirely appropriate for Santa's Grotto, but it was fun," Hermione replied.

"Even Santa's got to have a bit of fun," Draco said, giving Hermione's backside a quick squeeze.

With a laugh, Hermione batted her husband's hand away and turned her focus back onto the twins. Slowly they made their way towards the Grotto, and once they entered the official Grotto space they were greeted by the sound of Christmas songs being played. Lyra started dancing and singing along to the songs as they edged closer to seeing Santa.

Finally, after nearly two hours in the torturous queue, the Malfoys reached the front. One by one the twins went and sat on Santa's lap, giving him a list of things they wanted for Christmas. The only problem was, the poor Santa didn't understand half of what the twins wanted as they were also mentioning wizarding toys and games they wanted. Handing each twin a gift from his sack, the Santa shot Draco and Hermione a curious look as he posed for a picture with the pair.

"I think he thinks we're crazy," Hermione whispered to an amused Draco as they waited for their picture to be printed and placed in a cardboard mount.

"Or at the very least we've got two crazy kids," Draco agreed. "Did you see his eyebrows shoot up into his hat when Scorpius mentioned brooms?"

"We really should have briefed the kids about what not to mention," Hermione mused.

"It wouldn't have worked," Draco said with an unconcerned shrug. "They were too excited, they would have forgotten everything we said the moment they saw Santa."

Looking over to where the twins were waiting, having ripped off the paper on their gifts and finding a doll for Lyra and a superhero action figure for Scorpius, Hermione had to agree with her husband. While the twins were clever, they were still just six, and when it came down to it, they were super excited about Christmas and seeing Santa. Asking them to differentiate between muggle and magical toys would have been too hard. Instead, they'd seen Santa and were buzzing, so what did it matter if one Santa impersonator went home thinking that he'd met two very weird children. The important thing was that Scorpius and Lyra had visited Santa and had a good day, it was even worth a two hour wait to see the twins so happy and so excited for Christmas when the real Santa would be bringing them their presents.


	18. Reindeer Rides

Reindeer Rides.

"What exactly does your father have planned?" A nervous Hermione asked her husband while their seven year old twins pulled on their coats, boots and hats and scarves for the trip to the manor.

"He won't tell me," Draco confessed. "All he would say was to prepare ourselves for the ultimate festive experience."

"I just wish we knew what we were walking into," Hermione muttered. "Especially since he's invited all our friends."

"It's not like father's going to embarrass us all," Draco said with a chuckle.

"Are you sure? This is Lucius Malfoy we're talking about," Hermione replied with an arched eyebrow, before heading off to check the children were ready and leaving her husband suddenly doubting what his father had in store.

A few weeks ago, Lucius had announced he had a festive surprise in store for the twins and their friends. However, he wouldn't be drawn on what it was. He just told Draco and Hermione to make sure all their friends were invited so their children didn't miss out. Draco hadn't hesitated in inviting all their friends to the manor for the afternoon, but now Hermione had him doubting the wisdom of trusting Lucius. After all, his father was rather unpredictable, and Draco couldn't help but feel nervous about what was in store since he didn't know and his father had refused to be drawn on the subject whenever he'd mentioned it. Since it was now too late to cancel their friends, all he could now was hope Lucius didn't have something totally inappropriate arranged.

"Draco," Hermione called from beside the fire where she was waiting with the twins. "Are you ready?"

"I guess so," Draco answered. Grabbing his jacket he made his way over to his family and the foursome flooed to Malfoy Manor.

Lucius and Narcissa were waiting for them when they arrived. After greeting their excited grandchildren, who weren't sure what to expect but they knew their grandfather had something special in store, the older couple turned to their son and daughter-in-law.

"Does anyone want drinks?" Narcissa asked.

"Let's wait and have hot chocolate when everyone arrives," Lucius said, before either Draco or Hermione could speak. "Everyone should be here soon, is that right?" He checked with his son.

"Any minute," Draco confirmed. "But before they arrive, do you care to tell us what's in store this afternoon?"

"Have some patience, Draco," Lucius replied with a chuckle. "But I can promise you one thing, the kids are going to love it."

"Really?" Draco turned to his mother, hoping she knew what his father had planned.

"Really," Narcissa confirmed with a nod and a smile. "Don't worry Draco, it's a lovely treat."

"And we've been having the perfect weather," Lucius added with a grin.

"Snow?" Hermione frowned. It had been snowing practically all of December, and since Christmas was just over a week away the twins were hoping for a white Christmas.

"Yes, snow," Lucius chuckled. "It makes things perfect."

"Can we play in the snow?" Scorpius asked. "I want to build a snowman."

"I want to build a snow woman," Lyra added, not wanting to be outdone by her brother.

"Well, I'm going to build a snow dog as well," Scorpius told his sister in a taunting manner.

"My snow woman is going to have a snow cat," Lyra retorted.

Hermione and Draco rolled their eyes at the twins as they continued to bicker over what they were going to build in the snow. Fortunately before things got totally out of hand, the floo network lit up and Blaise and Daphne alighted with their two children, seven year old Alex, who rushed straight over to Scorpius, and four year old Amy. As Blaise was considered part of the Malfoy family, he and Daphne were greeted warmly and Narcissa scooped Amy up for a cuddle off her surrogate granddaughter.

"So where's this festive surprise?" Blaise asked.

"Honestly, you're as bad as Draco," Lucius complained. "Don't either of you know the word, patience. The surprise will be revealed once everyone is here."

Fortunately it only took another ten minutes for everyone to gather at the manor. Theo and Pansy were the next to arrive with their four year old daughter, Jasmine. Next came the twins, Fred and George with their respective wives, Alicia and Angelina, and their children, Adam and Roxanne. Adam was Fred and Alicia's son, while Roxanne was George and Angelina's, and while they were technically cousins everyone tended to jokingly refer to them as twins as they were born on the same day, much to Blaise's amusement. Blaise had found it funny enough that Alicia and Angelina had been pregnant together, but he'd found it even funnier when Angelina had gone into labour at the hospital while her and George were supporting Fred and Alicia as Alicia was giving birth, and then she'd had Roxanne just moments before Alicia had given birth to Adam.

Last to arrive were Hermione's two best friends, Harry and Ron. Harry was accompanied by his wife Ginny, and their two children, nine year old James and Lily who was two. Ron also had a two year old daughter, Rose, along with his six year old son, Rupert, with his wife Luna.

"Now everyone's here, we can head outside," Lucius announced to the eager group.

Lucius and Narcissa led the way through the large manor and out of one of the doors that led directly into the back garden. When the group entered the garden, they found nothing out of the ordinary. However, Lucius carried on down the main garden, and headed towards a gate that led into a further bit of Malfoy land. It was through the gate that the group finally found what Lucius had organised for them.

In the secondary garden stood a large, ornate sleigh, with two reindeers positioned in front of it. There was also a pen with two more reindeers inside. Two men were also in the garden, one standing with the sleigh and one standing with the reindeers in the pen.

"This is Sven and Kris," Lucius announced, gesturing to the two men. "Sven and Kris run a reindeer sanctuary, and they'd kindly came to visit with some of their reindeers. Everyone can have a ride around the grounds in the sleigh, and everyone can pet some reindeer."

"This is so cool," Scorpius cried as the kids ran over to either the sleigh or the pen. "Thanks, Grandpa."

"Do the reindeer have names?" Lyra asked Sven, who was the wizard standing with the sleigh.

"They do," Sven replied. "This is Jingle and Bells pulling the sleigh," He said, introducing the two reindeer to the fascinated children.

"And over here we have Mistletoe and Holly," Kris said, gesturing to the two reindeers in the pen behind him.

"We have a cat called Holly," Lyra giggled as she made her way over to meet the other two reindeers.

"This is amazing, Lucius," Hermione said, smiling at her father-in-law.

"I try my best," Lucius replied with a proud grin as he watched everyone gush over the reindeers.

For a while the children got to know the reindeers, before the sleigh rides began. Since the sleigh was so large, it fit quite a few people in at a time so it was decided the older children would go first. The twins piled into the sleigh along with Alex, Roxanne, Adam, James and Rupert.

"Do you want to go with your brother?" Daphne asked Amy. Rupert was the youngest one in the group at six, but since Amy was just four, Daphne wasn't sure if she would rather wait and go with the younger children.

"No," Amy said with a shake of her head. "I want to go with Jasmine."

"Okay, we'll go next time," Daphne said to her daughter.

"Right you lot, be good," Draco warned as Sven climbed up into the driver's seat of the sleigh. "If you mess around Sven will put you out of the sleigh, is that understood?"

"Yes, Dad," Scorpius replied as everyone else nodded their heads.

"Do you know where you're going?" Draco asked Sven. "Or do you need someone to come with you?"

"It's alright, your father showed us around the grounds this morning. I've got the route all mapped out," Sven replied. "The trip will take about twenty minutes."

"Have fun, kids," Hermione called as Draco stepped away from the sleigh and it took off with the kids on board.

While the older kids were taking a sleigh ride around the manor's grounds, the younger ones petted the reindeers and even fed them the odd carrot. Twenty minutes later the sleigh returned and everyone disembarked laughing and gushing about the great time they'd had.

The second trip on the sleigh was the younger children, all accompanied by their mothers. Daphne and Pansy settled on the sleigh with Amy and Jasmine, and Ginny and Luna got on with their two year olds, Lily and Rose. While the youngsters had their trip, the older children took their turn in petting and feeding the reindeers.

"That was lovely," Pansy announced when the sleigh returned yet again and the second group disembarked.

"Do we get a go?" Ron asked.

"Sure," Lucius replied. "Everyone can have a ride."

Quickly the adults sorted themselves into two groups for their trips. Ron, Harry, Blaise and Theo took the first trip along with Lucius and Narcissa. When they got back, Hermione, Draco, Fred, Alicia, George and Angelina climbed aboard and took their own trip around the manor's grounds.

Once everyone had taken one trip on the sleigh, Sven made smaller trips, not leaving the piece of garden they were using. All the children had second, and sometimes third rides, and they spent ages petting the other reindeers. Narcissa also sent for hot chocolate and warm cookies for them to enjoy as they made their most of their afternoon reindeer experience.

By the time everyone left, they all agreed it had been the perfect afternoon and it would be something they would remember for the rest of their lives. It was certainly a treat for the children, and Lucius would forever be the hero who provided them with reindeer rides.


	19. Secret Santa

Secret Santa.

A few days before Christmas, Draco and Hermione headed over to their friends house for the evening. Blaise and Daphne were actually playing host to the whole group of friends, which consisted of both Gryffindors and Slytherins, brought together via the relationship between Hermione and Draco. When the couple had gotten together in school, Hermione's friends and Draco's friends had put their past difference to one side and formed new friendships with one another. In the years since leaving school, the Weasley twins and their partners had also joined the group, thanks mainly to the fact Draco and his two best friends, Blaise and Theo, had instantly bonded with the troublesome duo of Fred and George.

"Are we the first to arrive?" Draco asked as Blaise magically summoned some nibbles and placed them on the coffee table in the front room.

"Yeah, but I'm sure everyone else is right behind you," Blaise answered.

Sure enough he was right, and within ten minutes the entire group had arrived. Hermione's best friends, Harry and Ron were there with Harry's wife, Ginny and Ron's girlfriend, Luna. Draco's friends, Theo and Pansy, were a couple and arrived together, and of course the Weasley twins arrived with their pregnant wives, Alicia and Angelina.

"Wow, you two are getting big," Blaise said, as he greeted the twins and their pregnant wives.

"When are you due again?" Daphne asked.

"End of January," Alicia and Angelina answered together.

"Both of you?" Theo checked.

"Yep," Angelina confirmed with a grin. "We're actually due on the same day, but that's more a guideline than a certainty."

"Bloody hell, talk about synchronised sex," Blaise chuckled. "Did you two plan this?"

"Yes, we planned to get our wives pregnant on the same night," Fred answered in a serious voice, even though everyone could tell he was just joking.

"I wouldn't put it past you two," Blaise remarked with a friendly grin. "You do everything together."

"Well this time, it was a pure coincidence," George said with a laugh. "I guess fate just wanted us to become fathers together."

"I still say you had synchronised sex," Blaise insisted. "I bet you've done that before. Both of you making sure you got some action at the same time. Did you lose your virginities together?"

"Blaise, stop it," Daphne hissed, slapping her fiancé on the arm. "We don't need to know about anyone losing their virginities, not at Christmas."

"You can tell us the story another time, maybe Easter," Blaise suggested cheekily, making everyone chuckle.

"You're terrible, Blaise," Daphne tutted, although she couldn't help but smile slightly at her fiancé.

"But you love me," Blaise declared confidently, pulling Daphne into his arms and giving her a searing kiss.

"Knock it off," Pansy cried. "We don't need to see you two slobbering all over each other."

With a chuckle, Daphne pulled herself out of Blaise's arms and checked everyone had drinks. She also told them to help themselves to nibbles, which Ron promptly dove into. As they drank, the group chatted about their lives until the reason they were all gathered cropped up. It was Christmas in just under a week, and they were going to exchange presents, only this year they were doing something different in the form of a couple's Secret Santa.

It had all started when a few of the boys were complaining about how they didn't know what to buy for people. So Hermione had suggested that instead of everyone buying individual presents they should buy as couples. To make it even more fun, Ginny had suggested the turn it into a Secret Santa, that way they only had to buy for one couple and had the opportunity to get something special. Everyone had thought it was a brilliant idea, and several weeks ago they'd met up and drawn names from a hat. Now it was time to see how the Secret Santa had worked out.

"Who wants to go first?" Hermione asked.

"We will," Luna offered, reaching into her bag and pulling out an ivory envelope. "This is for Blaise and Daphne, we hope you enjoy it."

Daphne thanked Luna as she took the envelope and opened it up. Inside was a voucher for a weekend spa break at a new luxurious wizarding spa that had recently opened up in the Welsh countryside. The spa had recently been featured in Witch Weekly, and was reported to be the finest spa in wizarding Britain.

"Wow, this is amazing," Daphne said. "Thanks guys."

"You're welcome," Ron said. "The voucher is valid until the end of April. They didn't do any longer ones I'm afraid."

"Don't worry, it's perfect," Blaise said. "We could use it before the wedding to prepare ourselves."

"Yeah, that would be great," Daphne agree. "Thank you, we love it."

"And we'll go next," Blaise said, plucking a purple envelope from the table beside the sofa he was sitting on. "Theo, Pans, this one's for you."

"And I just want to add, Blaise did this," Daphne said as Theo took the envelope from his friend. "I had something else in mind, but he insisted that the pair of you would love this."

"And they will," Blaise said with a firm nod. "Just you wait and see."

Everyone's curiosity was well and truly aroused as Theo opened the envelope, his eyebrows shooting up into his hair when he took in the contents of the envelope. When he showed his girlfriend, Pansy threw her head back and laughed loudly.

"Blaise, it's brilliant," She said through her laughter. "Just perfect."

"Told you," Blaise said to his fiancée.

"What is this perfect present?" Draco asked.

"Two nights at the Secluded Pines Nudist Retreat," Theo announced.

"Nudist retreat?" Harry gasped, blushing slightly at the thought.

"You mean, somewhere you're not allowed to wear clothes?" Ron checked.

"No clothes allowed," Blaise confirmed. "It's full on wall to wall nudity."

"And this is something that appeals to you?" Luna asked Pansy in genuine fascination.

"Hell yeah, it'll be a right laugh," Pansy said with a grin. "Besides, Theo and I have nothing to hide. We're both attractive adults with good bodies."

"Let me know what it's like, Daphne and I might try it," Blaise said.

"We will not," Daphne said. "I'm not flashing my bits for anyone."

"You're no fun," Blaise pouted. "I bet the others would be up for it."

To no-one's surprise the twins were the first to agree it was something they would be up for trying. Surprisingly, Alicia and Angelina didn't object to the idea and admitted they would be tempted to give it a go. Ginny also figured it would be a laugh, but Harry really wasn't keen and nor were Ron and Luna. The only couple who didn't offer an opinion were Draco and Hermione.

"You two are quiet," Angelina said. "Already planning a trip there, are you?"

"No way," Draco said, surprising almost everyone. Most people had assumed he was confident enough in his body to be unconcerned who saw him naked.

"I never took you as the shy type, Draco," Fred laughed.

"He's not," Hermione answered for her boyfriend. "He's the jealous type."

"I get it," George sniggered. "He won't go because he wouldn't want anyone seeing you naked."

"Exactly, Hermione's nakedness is for my eyes only," Draco said firmly.

"That's rather sweet, in a totally possessive sort of a way," Pansy said. "Now since everyone is jealous of our gift, I think we should move on before we lose it. Our Secret Santa is for Fred and Alicia."

Like everyone else's so far, Pansy and Theo handed their gift over in an envelope. When Fred and Alicia opened the envelope, they found a voucher for a photo session with a famous wizarding photographer.

"The voucher lasts a whole year, so you can use it now or wait until the baby is born," Pansy explained.

"It's brilliant, thank you," Alicia said. "It'll be the perfect way to document our newest addition to the family."

"Thanks, it's great," Fred added, smiling at the two former Slytherins. "Now for our gift."

Yet again, another envelope was produced, this one going to Harry and Ginny. When Ginny tore into the envelope, she found tickets for a weekend break in Paris. Like the other vouchers, there was no date on the tickets so Harry and Ginny could arrange to visit Paris when they wanted.

"Thanks Fred and Alicia," Ginny said, giving her brother and sister-in-law a hug. "It'll be nice to have a romantic weekend away sometime."

"We could get started on the baby making," Harry suggested to his wife. Ever since Alicia and Angelina had announced their pregnancies the Potters had been talking about starting their own family.

"I like the sound of that," Ginny replied with a smile as she leant over and gave Harry a kiss.

"Break it up," Blaise called. "There'll be none of that on my sofa. The only children being conceived in this flat, are mine."

"I didn't you know you two were trying for a baby," Hermione teased, laughing as Blaise went white as he realised what he'd said. Even though Blaise and Daphne were on the verge of getting married, Blaise was still a bit of a free spirit and no-one seriously thought children were in his immediate future.

"I'm talking years down the line," Blaise hastily corrected. "Decades even."

"Let's not go that far," Daphne said. "You've got four or five years Blaise, then you're giving me a baby."

"Just think of all the sex you're going to have when you're trying to get her pregnant," Draco soothed Blaise as his best friend gaped at his wife.

While Blaise started to grin at the thought of the sex he had in his future, Ginny handed her and Harry's present over to George and Angelina, which like everyone else's came in an envelope. George and Angelina's envelope contained access to a V.I.P. quidditch box at the home ground of The Falmouth Falcons. Harry was the Falcons seeker, and he'd arranged the box knowing how much both George and Angelina loved quidditch.

"The box is available all day, whatever day you want," Harry explained. "You can use it just the two of you, or invite some friends. I think the box holds about twenty people. Anyway, when you want to use it, just let the club know the week before. Everything in the box is already paid for, including all the food and drink you want."

"This is amazing," Angelina said with a grin. She loved quidditch, and spending a match in a V.I.P. box was definite something to look forward to.

"If we wait until we have the baby, we can introduce the baby to quidditch in style," George said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, what a way to view your first quidditch match, in the V.I.P. box," Angelina agreed, grinning at her husband.

"We're just pleased you like it," Harry said, smiling at the ecstatic couple.

"It's great," George enthused. "As is our gift for Draco and Hermione."

"Such modesty," Ron chuckled, rolling his eyes at his brother.

"Now, I sorted this," Angelina said, handing the couple yet another envelope.

"She didn't trust me," George added with a fake pout. "She thought I would get you something sexual."

"You were looking into tantric sex weekends," Angelina pointed out.

"They looked fun," George replied with a shrug.

"They looked like hard work," Angelina shot back. "Sex should be fun, you shouldn't be worried about breathing techniques at the same time."

"It's supposed to intensify things," George said.

"Hmm, I'm looking into this tantric thing," Blaise whispered loudly to Daphne.

"Sorry to say, your present isn't anything tantric," Angelina said to Draco and Hermione. "But I hope you still like it."

Opening the envelope, Hermione and Draco found Angelina had given then vouchers to book a weekend in a remote cabin, with several choice of locations, including a few foreign places. The cabins were all isolated in order to offer the couple staying in them some quality time together. The cabins were also stocked with everything the couple could desire in order to have a romantic getaway.

"It sounds amazing," Hermione said, reading through the information on the cabins. "So peaceful and relaxing."

"Not too relaxing," George said with a mischievous grin as he pulled a box from his pocket, enlarged it and handed it to Draco. "That's a few fun bits to take with you."

"George," Angelina scolded, when Draco opened the box and pulled out a pair of purple fluffy handcuffs. "Our present was supposed to be romantic, not saucy."

"I thought we could do both," George replied, grinning as Draco continued to pull bits and pieces from the box, including some body paint, massage oil and edible underwear.

"Thanks, the box is brilliant," Draco said with a grin as he returned everything and shut the lid before Blaise or someone snaffled something. "So is the cabin. We're going to have a great time."

"And now hopefully our present will go down just as well as the others," Hermione said, producing a gold envelope and passing it to Ron and Luna.

Draco and Hermione's gift to Ron and Luna was a three course meal and a night in an exclusive wizarding hotel in London. The hotel was so exclusive you had to be a member, or guest of a member, to even be allowed into the luxurious building. However, as a Malfoy, and one of the wealthiest young wizards in the country, Draco was a member of the hotel chain, and he'd no problem ensuring Ron and Luna got to experience an evening and night of luxury at the five star hotel as his guests.

"Wow, how did you manage this?" Ron gasped, upon seeing the present. He doubted even Harry could get into the hotel, and he was a major quidditch star, not to mention the boy who'd defeated Voldemort when he was still a baby.

"I'm a member of the hotel," Draco replied. "It comes with being a Malfoy."

"And you're letting us visit for the night?" Luna asked. "Won't this cost you a fortune?"

"It doesn't matter how much it costs, it's our Christmas present to you both," Draco replied. "Just enjoy it. It may only be one night, but it's a night you'll remember for a long time."

"Thank you, it's amazing," Ron said as Luna safely tucked the envelope into her bag.

With all the gifts received, and loved by everyone, the group settled down to continue their evening of fun. After all, the night was still young and they were just getting into the festive spirit.


	20. Turkey

Turkey.

"Lyra. Scorpius," Hermione called up the stairs to her twelve year old twins. "Come on, we're ready to go."

It was the day before Christmas Eve, and the family were heading to the manor, where Draco's parents still resided. As well as it being an opportunity for the twins to see their grandparents for the first time since they'd returned home from Hogwarts for the holidays, Hermione was also planning on picking up the turkey for Christmas lunch. Hermione normally took care of stuff like that herself, but the previous month her father-in-law had told her he had everything sorted. Lucius had recently met up with an old friend, and apparently the old friend had promised him the perfect turkey for Christmas lunch. Hermione was just hoping it was big enough to feed everyone.

"Finally," Hermione exclaimed when the twins came rushing downstairs. "What have you two been up to?"

"I was sorting my hair," Scorpius replied with a shrug. "I can't go out with messy hair."

"Quite right, Scorp," Draco agreed.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the two platinum blond wizards. With each passing year Scorpius was becoming more and more like his father, and that meant becoming rather obsessed with looking his best at all times. Draco would never dream of leaving the house with a single hair out of place, and her son was just the same.

"And what took you so long?" Hermione asked her daughter.

"I was getting Snowflake and Snowball down from my wardrobe," Lyra explained. "They chased each other up there and I didn't want them to fall and get hurt."

"The trouble those two cats get into, I'm sure they'd be fine," Hermione muttered. Unlike their older cat, Holly, Snowflake and Snowball were still pretty young and they were always causing havoc around the house.

"So, now we're all here maybe we should get going," Draco suggested.

"Yes, I need to get a look at this turkey," Hermione said. "It better be big enough for everyone."

"Father said it was a big one," Draco reminded his wife. "I'm sure he wouldn't lie to us."

"Maybe his definition of a big one, is different to mine," Hermione argued. "He might think it's big, and I might just think its average. I'm used to big ones, Draco."

"I know you are," Draco whispered with a saucy chuckle.

"Idiot," Hermione said, smiling slightly at her husband and his one track mind. "Right, let's get going," She announced to the twins. "Scorp, you go first."

One by one the twins' flooed to the manor, followed by Draco and Hermione. When Hermione arrived at her parents-in-law's house, the twins had already headed off in search of their grandparents, while Draco was waiting for her in the floo room. Together the couple left the floo room, and headed across the large hallways towards the main living room Lucius and Narcissa tended to use. As expected both Malfoys were in residence, already caught up with chatting to their grandchildren.

"Tea?" Narcissa asked as she greeted her son and daughter-in-law. "The elves have made Christmas cake as well."

"That sounds lovely," Hermione replied with a smile. She didn't have any problems with the Malfoys having house elves, as they were now all free and paid a small wage.

Narcissa sorted refreshments, and while they drank tea and ate cake, the twins filled their grandparents in on what they'd been up to at school. Much to Lucius's delight the twins were both Slytherins and he thoroughly enjoyed listening to what the newest branch of the family got up to in Hogwarts.

"So, this turkey, Lucius," Hermione said once the tea had been finished. "Is it as big as you promised?"

"It's big, alright," Lucius replied with a slight smirk.

"Can I see it?" Hermione asked. She had a bad feeling about the turkey, but at this late stage she wouldn't be able to get another one, so she was hoping she was being irrational and that Lucius had kept to his word and secured them a large turkey for Christmas lunch.

"Are you sure you don't want more cake?" Lucius questioned, holding the plate of cake out towards his daughter-in-law.

"No thank you," Hermione replied. "I'd like to check the turkey if that's alright."

"I suppose so," Lucius muttered as he got to his feet. "Is everyone coming?"

"To look at a turkey?" Draco questioned, giving his father an unimpressed look.

"It's a very good turkey," Lucius replied. "Come on, let's go and see it."

"Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" Hermione grumbled to her husband as they got up and followed Lucius out of the living room.

Hermione's bad feeling got worse as Lucius led the way out of one of the doors that led into the large back garden of the manor. Lucius led the group down the garden, and out of a small gate that led to another section of the garden. When Lucius headed over to a small pen, which wasn't normally in the garden, Hermione shared a worried look with her husband.

"Cool," Scorpius cried as he stopped at the pen and took in what was inside.

"Mum, come and see," Lyra called from her brother's side.

"Do I want to?" Hermione asked, turning to face Narcissa.

"Probably not," Narcissa confessed.

Feeling even more apprehensive, Hermione slowly approached the pen and had her worst fears confirmed. Strutting around inside the small pen was a large, very live, turkey. Hermione watched the turkey wander around the pen, before she turned to Lucius.

"Seriously? You promised me a turkey, and this is what I get."

"This is a turkey," Lucius argued.

"This is alive," Hermione shot back. "I can't serve this for Christmas lunch."

"Of course you can, one quick spell and its dead," Lucius said.

"No," Lyra cried, turning to glare at her grandfather, looking eerily like her mother. "You can't kill it."

"Sure I can," Lucius replied. "We have to eat something on Christmas day."

"Not this turkey," Lyra argued. "I will not eat this turkey."

"Nor will I," Scorpius added. "I'll go vegetarian if I have to."

"No need to get carried away," Narcissa chuckled. "I've got a back-up plan."

"You have?" Lucius turned to look at his wife in utter surprise. In the few days they'd had the turkey, Narcissa hadn't mentioned finding a solution to his problems, she'd just let him worry about how to make things right when Hermione found out the truth.

"Did you honestly think I would leave this for you to sort out?" Narcissa questioned with a chuckle. "I knew this would be your answer, and I knew no-one would like it."

"For the record, I have no problem with offing the turkey," Draco added.

"Draco," Hermione scolded, hitting her husband on the arm. "You can't go around killing innocent animals."

"And what do you think happens with the meat we normally eat?" Draco asked in amusement. "Every year a turkey has to die for us to eat lunch."

"Yes, but we don't kill it ourselves," Hermione argued. "I will not be part of killing this turkey."

"No-one is killing Gobbler," Lyra announced.

"Gobbler?" Draco frowned at his daughter in confusion.

"Gobbler the turkey," Scorpius replied. "While you were arguing about killing it, Lyra and I gave it a name. Now you can't kill it. We need to give it a proper home now, this pen in tiny."

"You want me to keep the turkey and give it a proper home?" Lucius asked in bewilderment. He'd honesty expected to be getting rid of the turkey, either by killing it, or palming it off to a turkey farm or something.

"Yes," Lyra replied with a nod.

"Why don't you and Draco get started on the new pen," Narcissa suggested to her husband. "I'm sure the twins can keep you right. Meanwhile, I can show Hermione my back-up plan."

Leaving the twins in charge of making sure Lucius and Draco erected a proper pen for the turkey, Hermione went back indoors with Narcissa. Narcissa took her into the big kitchen where the elves worked, where there was a large turkey sitting on one of the kitchen worktops.

"When the live turkey arrived, I pulled a few strings to get this one," Narcissa explained. "I hope its okay."

"It's great," Hermione said with a relieved sigh. "Thank you, Narcissa."

"Well, you can't really leave this stuff to the men," Narcissa said. "You heard Lucius's solution to the problem. It never occurred to him to try and find a fresh turkey when that monstrosity turned up."

"And how do you feel about having a live turkey living in your back garden?"

"I'll cope," Narcissa replied, delicately shrugging one of her shoulders. "I lived with bloody peacocks roaming free on the grounds for years. I'm sure if the turkey gets too much, I can get rid of it like I did the peacocks."

"What did you do to the peacocks?" Hermione asked warily.

"Don't worry, I didn't hurt them," Narcissa chuckled. "I just convinced Lucius to get rid of them, which wasn't easy considering he thought they gave the manor a sense of grandeur."

"Do I want to know how you persuaded him to get rid of them?" Hermione questioned nervously. She was guessing her mother-in-law had used her feminine wiles on Lucius, and she had no desire to hear about Draco's parent's sex lives.

"I faked an injury," Narcissa confessed. "I claimed one of them had bitten me. A few tears and a bit of fake blood was all it took for Lucius to arrange for the birds to be moved to a nearby wildlife reservation."

"Sneaky," Hermione chuckled.

"Lucius isn't the only Slytherin in the family," Narcissa replied with a smile as the two women headed back outside to check on the turkey pen.

By the end of the afternoon, Draco and Lucius had managed to whip up a large pen for the turkey to run around in. When they were finished, Lucius wasn't overly impressed to have a turkey living in his garden, but neither Hermione nor Narcissa had any sympathy with him. Maybe next time he would think things through before jumping in with both feet before he knew all the details.


	21. Unwrap Me

Unwrap Me.

Draco and Hermione's first Christmas together occurred when they were head students in Hogwarts. The pair had stayed behind for the holidays, and after sharing a romantic first official date earlier in the holidays, they'd then spent the rest of their time together, school work cast aside for the festive season. Christmas day was no exception, and they spent the morning opening presents, both from each other and from their friends and family.

At lunchtime the couple headed down to The Great Hall, where they joined the other students and Professors who'd stayed behind. Apart from fourth year, when they'd stayed for the Yule Ball, neither Draco nor Hermione had remained at Hogwarts for the holidays before so Christmas lunch was a new experience. Gone were the four long house tables and the Professors table, and in their place stood a large round table.

Taking seats at the table, the couple soon discovered only a handful of people had stayed behind. Even the staff was severely diminished, and the ones that were present were sitting mingling with the students. With everyone mixing together, regardless of age or house, it was a slightly surreal experience for the head students. However, that wasn't to say it wasn't enjoyable. As always, the food was delicious, and once people got used to dining with people they weren't used to eating with, the atmosphere lost it's tense edge. In the end it was an enjoyable, fun lunch.

After a spectacular meal, Draco and Hermione decided to go for a walk. For a long time the pair strolled the grounds of the castle, talking about the future and what was going to happen once they left school. It was only when it began to snow that they decided to call it a day and they headed inside. Heading back to the head dorms, they asked one of the elves to bring them some hot chocolate, before they settled down in front of a roaring fire.

The pair had been lying in front of the fire for a couple of hours, when Hermione got to her feet. When Draco asked where she was going, she merely gave him a mysterious smile and told him that she had another gift for him. Before Draco could question her further, Hermione headed off to her room, vowing to be back shortly.

Ten minutes later, Draco was beginning to wonder what was keeping Hermione when she still hadn't returned. Suddenly hearing her feet on the stairs, he sat up and opened his mouth to ask what had taken so long. However, the second Hermione entered the common room, the words stuck in his throat and he just gazed at his girlfriend in amazement.

Hermione had come back wearing a tight, short, black t-shirt, with the words 'Unwrap Me' blazed across her chest in gold writing. The t-shirt emphasized her full breasts, and displayed her long, toned legs in all their glory.

"Do you not like?" Hermione asked warily as Draco remained silent.

"I love it," Draco replied in a lust affected voice. "You look amazing. Very sexy."

"That was the hope," Hermione replied with a smile. "And I take it you get the message."

"I'm not sure," Draco teased. "What is the message?"

"If you can't read, you don't get your present," Hermione said as she slowly sauntered over to where her boyfriend was still sitting in front of the fire and stood in front of him.

"I can read," Draco replied, reaching out and running his hands up Hermione's legs, until he was grasping her hips. "But are you sure?"

They both knew what he was asking, as the couple had yet to sleep together. In the few months they'd been together, things had gotten pretty heated at times, but they'd yet to take the final step.

Hermione nodded and gave Draco a reassuring smile. "Yes, I'm sure. Now be a good boy, Draco, and do what my t-shirt says."

Draco chuckled lightly as he took hold of Hermione's hand and pulled her down beside him. Connecting their lips, he gave Hermione a searing kiss as his hands toyed with the hem of her t-shirt. Hermione wrapped her arms around Draco and eagerly returned the kiss as her boyfriend continued to slowly tease the removal of her shirt.

Eventually, the couple broke apart and Draco began to edge the black material up his girlfriend's body. When he removed the t-shirt, he wasn't sure what he'd expected to find, but he hadn't expected Hermione to be wearing a slinky emerald and silver bra and knickers set.

"Nice," He remarked, running his hands over the cups of her bra.

"I bought them with you in mind," Hermione confessed. She figured seeing her in Slytherin colours would be something of a turn-on for Draco.

"You know me so well," Draco said, grinning at Hermione before he reconnected their lips in a gentle kiss.

It didn't take long for the heat to build between the pair, and soon soft and gentle kisses gave way to needy and hot ones. Draco's large hands were running all over Hermione's exposed skin, teasing the parts of her still hidden by her underwear, while Hermione had slid her own smaller hands under Draco's shirt and was running her nails over his toned stomach.

Draco's shirt was the first to go, closely followed by his trousers, leaving him in just a pair of black boxers. Hermione ran her hand over the growing bulge as she leant up and nibbled on Draco's lower lip. Draco immediately covered his lips with hers, and pushing her to the floor he pressed his larger body over her smaller, feminine form.

"Bedroom?" He questioned breathlessly as he peppered kisses down Hermione's slender neck.

"No," Hermione replied with a groan as she arched her body, rubbing it provocatively against Draco's. "Here."

Draco didn't need further instruction, and engaging Hermione into another soul searing kiss, he slowly removed her underwear. As he removed her flimsy knickers, he took a moment to gaze down at the gorgeous creature below him. The firelight was dancing on Hermione's unblemished skin, and her brunette curls were fanned out around her head as she lay looking back up at him with her warm brown eyes.

"I love you," Draco whispered, letting the words fall from his lips without even thinking about them. He'd known for a while he was falling in love with Hermione, but he figured it would be hard to admit considering he wasn't the best at dealing with his emotions, however it had just fallen from his lips so naturally.

Hermione smiled in return as she reached out and grabbed hold of Draco's hand. "I love you, too," She said, bringing his hand to her lips and kissing his palm. "Now make love to me, Draco."

Sliding his boxers off, he briefly revelled in the lustful glare Hermione gave him, before he settled himself back over his girlfriend and connected their lips. In the midst of his kiss, he buried himself inside Hermione, and in front of the flickering fire on Christmas Day, the pair made love for the first time.


	22. Visitors for Christmas

Visitors for Christmas.

Standing at the kitchen window, Hermione watched as her ten year old twins ran about in the snow, throwing snowballs at one another. It was Christmas Eve, and Hermione was supposed to be finishing her last minute food preparations. However, she'd gotten distracted by the sight of her children. Over the last few months she'd been very aware that they were entering their last few months at home full time. Come next September they would be off at Hogwarts, and apart from holidays like these she wouldn't see much of them. Shaking her head to rid herself of the maudlin thoughts, Hermione turned away from the window and finished up with the batch of biscuits she was baking.

Fifteen minutes later she'd finished in the kitchen. Checking Scorpius and Lyra were still okay in the back garden, she left the kitchen and went to join her husband in the front room. Draco was sitting on the sofa with a glass of firewhisky in one hand, and a book in the other. Settling down beside her husband, Hermione lifted his arm and snuggled into his side.

"Are the kids okay?" He asked, putting his book down and turning his attention to his wife.

"Yeah, they're fine," Hermione replied. "It looked like they were starting to build a snowman."

"So we've got a bit of peace before they come in looking for hats and scarves to decorate it."

"Yep," Hermione answered with a nod of her head.

Nestled in her husband's arms, Hermione summoned her book while Draco picked his back up. The pair read for nearly ten minutes, before they heard the back door slamming open. Assuming it was the kids coming for stuff for their snowman, neither of them bothered to move. However, when Lyra came bursting into the room she wasn't talking about a snowman.

"You need to see what Scorpius has," She breathed excitedly. "It's amazing."

"What do you mean, what Scorpius has?" Hermione questioned.

However, before Lyra could answer, Scorpius entered the room carefully carrying a cardboard box. Hermione and Draco shared a worried look as they wondered where Scorpius had gotten the box from. The back garden was secure with charms, and there was no way Scorpius could get out, or anyone could get in.

"Where did you get the box from Scorp?" Draco asked.

"Found it," Scorpius answered quietly. "And don't shout, you'll scare them."

"Scare who?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"The kittens," Scorpius answered as he placed the box down on the floor. When Hermione and Draco looked in the box they found two tiny grey tabby kittens huddled together in the corner of the box.

"Oh my, where did they come from?" Hermione gasped as she tentatively reached out and stroked the head of one of the kittens.

"We found them outside," Scorpius answered. "They were abandoned."

"How can anyone abandon kittens on our land?" Draco queried. He knew the wards hadn't been breached as he would have felt them.

"They were outside of the garden," Lyra provided as she sank to her knees beside the kittens. "Can we keep them Mum? At least over the holidays, it Christmas Eve and all the animal shelters will be closed."

"First things first, let's deal with where they came from," Draco said before Hermione could speak. "How did you get them if they were outside the garden? You can't get out?"

"Actually, I can," Scorpius admitted with a sheepish smile. "There's a hole under the back fence. It's a tight squeeze but I can make it through, and I think it's under the wards so they don't sound when I go out. Not that I do it often, just when our balls go over the fence. Or when we hear strange noises and see boxes outside in the field."

"I'm going to go and check out this hole," Draco said.

"Check in case there's any more cats," Hermione called. "One might have wandered out of the box, and there might even be a mother somewhere. These kittens look pretty young."

"Okay," Draco replied. "Scorp, do you want to come with me?"

"Sure," Scorpius replied.

While Scorpius and Draco went off to check out where the kittens had come from, Hermione and Lyra focused on the kittens. Since the box they were in had been dumped in the snow, it was soggy and freezing, so Hermione sent Lyra to get the cat basket that belonged to their cat, Holly. When Lyra came back with the basket, Hermione placed fresh blankets in the basket and transferred the two kittens to the basket and placed them in front of the fire.

As they were settling the kittens, Holly came to investigate where her basket was at. Holly was a ginger tabby and she was starting to get old these days, but she was still a loving cat and Hermione wasn't worried about her attacking the kittens. In fact, she took one look at the pair before settling down beside them and starting to clean them.

"Aw, Holly's adopting them," Lyra cooed. "We have to keep them."

"We'll see," Hermione replied. "Right now, they're just visitors. Now do me a favour, go and see if you can find any books about looking after kittens."

"I've got just the book," Lyra called as she went flying off upstairs.

A few minutes later she was back, and handed Hermione a book all about caring for cats and kittens. Hermione raised her eyebrow at the book and Lyra admitted she'd been planning on asking for a kitten for when she started Hogwarts. She'd got the book to read up on cats and to prove she knew how to look after them.

"At least you're showing responsibility," Hermione said to her daughter, handing her the book back as she heard Draco and Scorpius returning. "Now see what you can find in the book."

Leaving Lyra with the kittens, Hermione headed into the kitchen. Sending Scorpius off to help Lyra, she checked with Draco what the situation was. He confirmed there was a hole at the bottom of the fence, which he'd added a ward to and was planning on fixing once the snow had gone. He also said they'd searched the field behind the house and they'd found no sign of any more kittens or a mother cat.

"How horrible," Hermione said with a shake of her head as she put the kettle on for a cuppa and arranged food and drink for the kittens. "How could anyone abandon those gorgeous kittens?"

"There's some cruel people in the world," Draco replied.

"Especially at Christmas," Hermione continued. "But at least they're safe now. Lyra has a book about cats and she's sorting them out."

"Why does Lyra have a book about cats?" Draco asked.

Chuckling, Hermione told him about her plans to ask for a cat before she went to Hogwarts. Even as Hermione was talking, they both knew what the end result of the day's adventures would be. Lyra wouldn't need a cat the following year, she'd likely end up with the two strays that they'd saved from the snow.

When they returned to the front room, Hermione and Draco found Scorpius was just as caught up with the kittens as his sister. The pair were sat on the floor, their coats and boots piled to one side as they read Lyra's book and stroked the kittens, who were now nestled up beside Holly.

"Holly's a surrogate mother," Lyra announced as Hermione tided the coats and boots. "She's taken Snowball and Snowflake under her wing."

"Snowball and Snowflake? You named the kittens?" Draco questioned.

"Of course, we can't leave them nameless," Scorpius answered with a stern shake of his head as he looked unimpressed with his father.

"But giving them names means you'll get attached to them," Draco pointed out. "What happens after Christmas when they leave?"

"You can't send them away," Lyra argued, tears immediately springing to her brown eyes. "Please Mum, don't send them away. Scorp and I love them, and Holly's adopted them as her own."

"No-one is making any decisions right now, for now let's just get the kittens settled," Hermione said. She knew Draco was just winding the kids up and they would likely be keeping the kittens, but she wasn't going to promise as much just in case something went wrong and they changed their minds, or worse the kittens didn't survive being abandoned out in the cold.

For the rest of the day, Lyra and Scorpius fussed over the two kittens. When it came time to go to bed, Lyra even insisted that the basket be moved into her room. Of course Scorpius wasn't going to be left out, so he decided he would camp out on his sister's floor. So in the end Scorpius bunked in with Lyra, and at the foot of her bed sat the basket with Holly and the two kittens.

On Christmas morning the first thing Lyra and Scorpius did was check on the kittens. Luckily they'd survived the night and they were much more active throughout the day. When Hermione's parents and Draco's parents arrived for dinner, they thought Scorpius and Lyra had gotten kittens for Christmas and both sets of grandparents took the side of the two ten year olds when they found out the full story and they agreed that Scorpius and Lyra should get to keep the kittens they saved. Of course, by the end of Christmas day Hermione and Draco had given in and they agreed the kittens could stay. And that was how the Malfoys ended up with two unexpected kittens one snowy Christmas.


	23. Wrapping the Presents

Wrapping the Presents.

Settling the twins down on the sofa with a cookie each, Hermione gathered the stuff to start her Christmas wrapping. Of course she wasn't going to wrap anything for the twins, but she had other gifts to wrap and it was now December so she had to get on with things. Hermione would have rather done the wrapping up when the twins were at school, but when the twins were at school she was working, so that left her with weekends or nights after they'd gone to bed. For the twins' presents, she would wrap on evenings, but for other people she didn't see that if mattered if the twins were around. Of course she had been hoping Draco would be around to look after the twins, but he'd had to work.

"Mummy?" Five year old Lyra called. "Why are you wrapping presents? Why isn't Santa doing it?"

"Mummy's helping Santa out," Hermione replied. "He's so busy looking after little boys and girls like you two that he needs help with other people. I'm helping him by wrapping gifts for other people."

"Can we help?" Scorpius asked, finishing off his cookie and jumping down from the sofa.

"I guess so," Hermione replied warily. "Just do as I say."

Scorpius and Lyra both agreed they would follow their mother's instructions, but being the curious five year olds they were they couldn't help but poke and prod at the things she had spread over the floor. Within five minutes, Hermione's organisation went out of the window and it was a battle even to find what she wanted.

"Where's the scissors?" She asked Scorpius as she searched all over and couldn't find the scissors.

"I put them in the box," Scorpius replied, pointing to where a black box had been sitting and frowning when the box had gone.

"You mean the box I've just wrapped up for your Grandma?" Hermione questioned with a groan.

"Maybe," Scorpius shrugged.

Trying her best to keep her cool, Hermione found the present she'd just wrapped up and reopened it. Sure enough when she opened the box that held a pair of leather gloves for her mother, she found the scissors Scorpius had placed in the box. Removing the scissors, she kept them beside her as she rewrapped her mother's present.

With the scissors found, Hermione turned back to get on with her wrapping, and found Lyra was wrapping their cat, Holly, in paper. Where Holly had come from Hermione wasn't sure as there'd been no sign of the ginger feline when they'd started wrapping up. However, the soft cat was just happily lying on a piece of paper, letting Lyra cover her with more.

"Lyra, what are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"Helping," Lyra replied. "Holly's nearly wrapped up."

"Why are you wrapping Holly?" Hermione questioned. "We're only wrapping gifts. We're not giving Holly away."

"But she likes it," Lyra protested. "Look, she wants to be a present."

"Not today," Hermione replied, leaning over and unwrapping her cat. Shoving Holly off the paper she was sprawled on, Hermione grabbed the roll and cut off all the paper that was too creased and torn to do anything with.

"Not where was I?" She muttered to herself. "Scorp, pass me that bag over there?" Hermione pointed in the direction of a bag, which contained quidditch goodies for some of her friends, but when Scorpius made no move to pass the bag she looked up and frowned when she spotted her son had vanished. "Lyra, where's your brother?"

"Don't know," Lyra answered as she rooted around in a bag containing chocolates. "Sweets. Are they mine, Mummy?"

"No, they're for Uncle Ron," Hermione answered. "I'm making him a hamper."

"Will Uncle Ron give me a sweet?" Lyra asked with a pout.

"Maybe if you ask him nicely," Hermione replied as she got to her feet to go in search of her son. However, before she even got a chance to leave the front room, Scorpius came running back into the room carrying a couple of his quidditch figures. "What do you have there, Scorp?"

"Toys for Daddy," Scorp replied.

"But Daddy doesn't play with toys," Hermione pointed out as she sat back down.

"He does," Scorpius argued. "He plays with me all the time."

"Yes, but they're your toys," Hermione replied.

"Now he'll have his own and won't have to play with mine," Scorpius replied matter of factly.

Hermione debated whether to point out to Scorpius that they would be buying something else for Draco, but she decided it wasn't worth the hassle. Both her children were ridiculously stubborn, and arguing with them when they'd made their mind up was fairly useless. If Scorpius was determined to give Draco a couple of his quidditch figures, nothing she could say would dissuade him of doing so.

"Fine, we can wrap the figures up for Daddy," Hermione conceded.

"Can I do it?" Scorpius asked. "I'm a big boy now, Mummy."

"Fine, you can do it, but I'm cutting the paper," Hermione replied.

Cutting a large piece of paper, she handed it to Scorpius and watched as he messily wrapped the figurines. By the time he'd added sellotape, nearly half a roll by Hermione's calculations, the parcel was a rotund ball of madness. How Draco was ever going to get into the parcel without using magic was anyone's guess.

"I want to wrap a present," Lyra cried when Scorpius proudly placed his efforts under the tree.

Before Hermione could say anything, Lyra had jumped to her feet and had taken off upstairs. Knowing Lyra would be back in a few minutes, Hermione carried on trying to get her normal wrapping done. She'd managed one more present before Lyra returned with one of her many dolls.

"Daddy doesn't play with dolls," Scorpius scoffed when his sister sat back down beside him.

"It's for Mummy," Lyra replied, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

"Be nice," Hermione warned as she handed Lyra some paper to wrap her doll.

Like Scorpius, Lyra's wrapping attempt was pretty messy and she used far too much sellotape. However, her kids were happy, so Hermione wasn't complaining. At least she wasn't complaining until she went to pack up and realised all her labels had been peeled off and placed onto different parcels. Obviously in amongst the chaos either Scorpius or Lyra, probably the former, had decided to have a bit of fun.

"You two go and sit on the sofa," Hermione said with an exasperated sigh as she was faced with sorting out the tag chaos. "If you're quiet for five minutes, you can have another cookie and some hot chocolate."

Of course Scorpius and Lyra couldn't manage to be quiet, but they did at least go and sit on the sofa as they bickered on and teased each other. Even just having the two five year's olds out of her way gave Hermione the chance to fix the chaos with the labels. Ten minutes later, everything was sorted and nestled under the tree in bags. Although thanks to the twins, what should have been a ten minute job had taken nearly an hour.

"Next time I'm using magic," Hermione muttered to herself as she got to her feet and tidied away the wrapping paper, tags, scissors and sellotape.

On a whole Hermione liked to do a lot of things the muggle way, however she was discovered that with two young children, sometimes doing things using magic was easier. One thing was for sure, she wouldn't do any more wrapping up the muggle way when the twins were around. From now on muggle wrapping up was to be done when she was alone and no-one was around to interfere.


	24. Xmas Eve

Xmas Eve.

Since having the twins, Hermione had tried to inject some traditions into Christmas Eve. Christmas Day was already sorted, with both her and Draco's parents coming for lunch each year, and they usually spent Boxing Day at The Burrow with their friends. However, they'd never really done anything special on Christmas Eve, but Hermione had changed that once they had the twins. Since Draco's family had never really done anything special on Christmas Eve, Hermione set about recreating things she used to do with her parents. Now the twins were five, Hermione was well into her stride and she knew exactly what the day ahead held for the family.

"I'm thinking mince pies this morning," Hermione announced over breakfast.

Christmas Eve morning was always spent baking some sort of Christmas goodie. Not only was it something delicious for the family to enjoy, but it gave them something to leave out for 'Santa', later that evening. Obviously all the talk about Santa came from Hermione's upbringing, but these days Draco was well on board with the muggle myth.

"No biscuits?" Draco checked. He never objected to anything his wife baked, but she'd made delicious cranberry and white chocolate biscuits the previous year and they had been delicious.

"Not this year," Hermione replied with a smile. "I'd thought I would try something different. You like mince pies, don't you?"

"Yeah," Draco answered with a nod. "I'll just miss your biscuits."

"We've got plenty of biscuits in the house," Hermione pointed out. "Including a fresh pack I picked up at the bakery in the village."

"It all sounds good to me," Draco said to his wife. "I'll eat whatever you want to make."

"Well this year, it's mince pies," Hermione said. "And are you two going to help?" She asked the twins.

"Yes," Lyra replied with a nod of her small head. "We'll make pies for Santa."

"What about Rudolph?" Scorpius questioned with a pout. "Does Rudolph eat pies?"

"No sweetheart, but we've got carrots and apples for the reindeers," Hermione reassured her son. "Don't worry, they won't be left out."

"Good." Scorpius nodded his head happily, before turning his attention back to his breakfast.

Once breakfast was over, Draco left Hermione and the twins to their baking. Putting aprons on both of the twins, Hermione settled them at the kitchen table while she got prepared. As always she'd bought enough stuff to make a batch of pies with the twins, and a second batch by herself in case the twins baking wasn't fit to eat.

"Ok, let's get mixing," Hermione announced.

Sharing the duties between two eager five year olds wasn't the easiest job she'd ever done, but somehow Hermione managed it. Without too much fuss, they managed to get the pastry into the bun tray and fill it with mincemeat. However, when Hermione turned to put the pies into the oven, Scorpius and Lyra decided to try the mincemeat, so when she turned back, she had two sticky fingered five year olds with mincemeat smeared around their mouths.

"Is it nice?" Hermione asked with a chuckle as she grabbed a cloth and began to clean the pair up.

"Tasty," Lyra answered, licking at her lips.

"Do you like it Scorp?" Hermione asked.

"It's okay," Scorpius replied with a shrug, although from the way he was also licking his lips, Hermione suspected he liked it just as much as his sister but was playing it cool.

"Right, we've got enough for a second batch, so let's get those underway," Hermione said. Since things had gone so well with the first batch, she didn't feel the need to make the second lot by herself.

While Hermione was planning on putting icing on the top of the first pies, she decided to add pastry stars to her second batch. By the time the second batch was ready to go in the oven, the first batch was coming out. With magic, Hermione was able to instantly cool the mince pies, so they could whip the icing up and put it on top of the pies. By the time the icing was done, both twins were a mess again and they were now covered in icing sugar as well as being sticky with mincemeat.

"Let's get you two washed, and then you can go and play outside with your Daddy," Hermione said.

Washing the twins up, she called for Draco and handed the pair over to her husband, before removing the second batch of pies. With the two sets of pies now out of the oven, she arranged some on a cake stand, and left the others to put in a container to keep them fresh. Hermione then tidied the kitchen before poking her head out of the door to check up on her husband and children.

It had been snowing all week, and from the looks of things, Draco and the twins were getting ready to build a snowman. Checking everyone was wrapped up, Hermione left her husband and the children to play in the snow while she prepared lunch. With Christmas the following day, Hermione didn't want to make a large lunch, so she whipped up some party food so they could nibble all day.

"Mummy, Mummy, come and look at our snowman," Scorpius called as he came running in the back door.

"I'll be right there," Hermione replied.

Following her son outside, she discovered that they'd managed to build a large snowman, which was now dressed in hat and scarf. The snowman was actually pretty impressive, and Hermione had to wonder how much magic her husband had used to make it. Even if the twins had been older it would have taken them much longer to make the snowman, but there was no way the two five year olds had made the snowman she was looking at.

"It's amazing," Hermione told the twins. "Very magical," She added, shooting her husband a knowing smirk.

"Yeah, the twins have done a brilliant job, haven't they?" Draco asked with a smile.

"They have," Hermione agreed. "It's a great snowman. Now let's get inside and get warmed up, the party food's all waiting."

Saying goodbye to their snowman, the twins raced inside and removed their outdoor clothing. Grabbing plates, the family sorted themselves some lunch and settled down in the front room. For the rest of the afternoon, they kept nibbling on party food and playing with some of the twins' older toys.

"Now for Christmas Eve presents," Hermione announced, plucking a box from under the tree.

Christmas Eve presents were another tradition Hermione had gotten off her parents. She'd always received new pyjamas off her parents on Christmas Eve, and both her children did as well. Although she also included a new Christmas film in the twins' box, which they would all watch before the twins went to bed.

With their Christmas Eve box opened, it was time for the twins' to get bathed. Normally bath time equalled the bathroom ending up soaked, along with whichever parent was doing the bathing, but Christmas Eve was different. Both Scorpius and Lyra were in and out of the bath in record time. They then dressed in their new pyjamas and snuggled down on the sofa to watch their new film, with a mug of hot chocolate.

After the film had finished, Hermione announced it was time for bed. However, before the twins could go to bed, they had to leave a snack for Santa. Hermione grabbed a Christmas plate from the cupboard, and pointed the twins in the direction of the vegetable basket. While the twins were picking out carrots for the reindeers, Hermione placed a mince pie on the plate and poured a glass of milk. Handing the milk to Scorpius, she gave the plate to Lyra and took the pair back into the front room. Carefully the twins set the plate and glass on the fireplace, and put a couple of carrots beside them.

"There," Hermione said. "Now Santa can have a mince pie and a drink, and his reindeers can have some carrots."

"It's time for you two to go to bed, or else he won't be coming," Draco said to the twins.

The threat of no Santa hurried the twins up and they raced each other up the stairs. Hermione followed them, and found them both sitting on Lyra's bed. Even though they both had rooms of their own, they would usually settle in one room for their bedtime story. Picking one of Lyra's Christmas books from her bookshelf, Hermione settled herself in-between the twins and read to them. After the story she tucked Lyra into her bed, while Scorpius went to settle himself in his room.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," Hermione said to Lyra, giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead as she nestled down in her bed.

Heading to Scorpius's room, Hermione said goodnight to her son before she returned to her husband. Now they could enjoy a few hours of peace together, before they settled the twins' presents under the tree and prepared for a hectic Christmas day.


	25. Yule Ball

Yule Ball.

It was Christmas Eve and the Malfoys were all gathered in the front room as the Christmas tree lights flickered and the warm golden fire roared in the fireplace. On the coffee table sat mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of mince pies and cookies. Their three cats were curled up in the large basket beside the fire and everyone was quiet as they all had their noses in books.

"Mum, what was the first Christmas you spent with Dad?" Fourteen year old Lyra asked her mother.

Hermione looked up from the book she was reading, surprised by her daughter's question. Over the years both Lyra and Scorpius had asked questions about their parents and their relationship, but it didn't normally come out of the blue. Normally their questions followed them overhearing something, or some remark that was made about the past. But this time the question had come out of nowhere from her daughter.

"It was in our seventh year of Hogwarts," Hermione answered. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I was just curious," Lyra shrugged. "One of the girls at school was talking about her parents, and how they spent their first Christmas together snowed in at a chalet in Switzerland."

"We've done that," Draco said with a fond chuckle as he remembered the incident. "But not at Christmas."

"You were snowed in a chalet?" Scorpius checked.

"I still say it was all fake," Hermione said, giving her husband a pointed look. The incident had occurred shortly after they were married, and miraculously they'd had a covering of snow that had jammed the door just when they were about to go skiing, something which Draco had been protesting about since their arrival.

"Would I do such a thing?" Draco asked in innocence.

"Yes," Hermione and the twins replied together.

"Okay, maybe I would," Draco conceded with a sly smile. "But I'm not admitting anything."

Hermione chuckled at her husband as she turned back to Lyra. "So are you after a story about our first Christmas together?"

"I hope not," Scorpius muttered. "Knowing you two, it would involve sex."

"Scorpius," Hermione scolded, turning slightly red at her son's words.

"What? It's true," Scorpius replied with a shrug.

"I would like to hear about your first Christmas together," Lyra admitted. "Just no saucy bits," She added as an afterthought.

"Well our first Christmas together was very romantic," Hermione said with a smile. "We were head students and stayed up at Hogwarts for the holidays. On the first day of the holidays, your father took me ice-skating on our first official date. We then spent the rest of the holidays going for walks in the snow and snuggled up in the head dorms."

"And it could have all been so different," Draco added with a wistful sigh.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"We very nearly spent an earlier Christmas together," Draco said.

"But I always went home for Christmas," Hermione argued. "The only other year I stayed at school was fourth year."

"And that was the year we almost spent together," Draco replied.

"What happened?" Lyra questioned. "Why didn't you spend Christmas together that year?"

"I have no idea," Hermione told her daughter when she looked at her questioningly. "I wasn't aware that your father and I almost spent it together."

"We would have if I hadn't been beaten to the punch by Viktor bloody Krum," Draco muttered. "I was this close to asking you to the Yule Ball." Holding up his hand, he held his fingers millimetres apart to indicate just how close he'd come to asking Hermione out in fourth year.

"As if," Hermione snorted with laughter. "You didn't notice me until we were paired together in a lesson sixth year. Before that, I wasn't even on your radar."

"You honestly think I didn't notice you?" Draco questioned his wife.

"I know you didn't," Hermione retorted.

"Care to place a bet on that?" Draco asked.

"What did you have in mind?" Hermione questioned, interested in what her husband was about to propose.

"If I can prove that I did notice you before sixth year, you agree to come to the quidditch world cup with us next summer. Every single match."

Hermione grimaced at the thought of attending every single quidditch match with her husband and children. The World Cup was being held in Italy and they'd already agreed to go for the tournament with the Zabinis. However, Hermione and Daphne had been planning on spending some time exploring Italy while their families were at the quidditch. As it stood the two witches only planned on attending the final.

"Okay, I'll bite," She finally replied. Since she knew she was right, she wasn't overly worried about losing the bet. "But if you fail to prove you were going to ask me to the Yule Ball, you're going to come with me on a European tour of art museums. Both wizarding and magical."

"Deal," Draco replied instantly as he knew he would never have to fulfil Hermione's wish. While he rather liked museums, he wasn't a fan of art museums and visiting a whole host of them would be hell.

"As fun as this is, how are either of you going to win this bet?" Scorpius asked. "Sure you could ask one of Dad's friends if he really was going to ask Mum to the Yule Ball, but they could lie for him."

"I'm going to show you all my memories," Draco announced. "That way, you'll see I'm telling the truth."

"Cool," Lyra gushed. "Will you show us the Yule Ball as well?"

"Sure," Draco replied. "And then you can see, just what I spent my evening doing."

"Having fun with your friends, and dancing with Pansy," Hermione retorted. "That's what you did all evening."

"Yeah, I did those things," Draco conceded. "But I was also captivated by a stunning witch, and I spent most of my evening watching her."

"Can we view these memories now?" Scorpius questioned, growing impatient with his parents. "We can prove who was right, and laugh at the pair of you in the process."

"Why would you laugh at us?" Hermione asked with a frown as the family moved from the front room, into Draco's study where he kept his pensieve.

"Because you were teenagers," Scorpius replied with a casual shrug. "And it's always funny to see your parents as teenagers."

While Lyra agreed with her brother, Draco sorted his memories into the pensieve. He included his memory of nearly asking Hermione to the ball, along with several memories of the actual dance. He was confident what he'd included was enough to prove to his wife that he'd noticed her long before he had the balls to pluck up the courage and ask her out.

"Are we ready?" Draco checked.

Everyone nodded their heads, and carefully they descended into the pensieve, landing in the school library. As they got their bearings, Scorpius and Lyra chuckled about the fact the place was exactly the same. Even Madam Pince hadn't changed, watching over the students in the library like a hawk.

"So where are you?" Lyra asked, looking around for her father.

"There." Draco pointed to a nearby bookshelf, where his teenage self was standing muttering to himself.

The four Malfoys moved closer to teenage Draco, and when they were standing beside him, they could hear him muttering to himself about Hermione. While teenage Draco was muttering to himself, Draco pointed his children in the direction of teenage Hermione, who was sitting at a table on the other side of the bookshelf.

"So you used to spy on Mum?" Scorpius asked with a chuckle. "Smooth."

"I was not spying, I was preparing myself," Draco argued as his teenage self, peered through the shelves at Hermione.

"Looks an awful lot like stalking to me," Scorpius remarked with a smirk.

"Just watch," Draco grumbled.

"Okay, you can do this," Teenage Draco muttered to himself. "It's easy. You just walk up to her and ask her out. What's the worst that could happen?"

"She could reject you for being a stalker," Scorpius supplied, even though he knew teenage Draco couldn't hear him.

"Scorpius," Hermione scolded lightly as she stood transfixed by teenage Draco as he slowly plucked up the nerve to approach her.

As Hermione watched, she saw the confidence blossom in the blond teenager. Just when it looked as though Draco was going to make his move, a noise could be heard behind them and teenage Draco turned round in time to see Viktor Krum sweeping past the shelf where he was standing and walking straight over to Hermione. Knowing what was going to happen next, Hermione took hold of her husband's hand as the teenage version of him peered through the bookshelf.

"Hermione," Viktor said in his heavy Bulgarian accent. "Would you do me the honour of accompanying me to the Yule Ball?"

"Me?" Teenage Hermione squeaked. "You're asking me out?"

"I am," Viktor replied. "Will you be my date?"

"I'd love to," Teenage Hermione replied with a wide smile.

"Ouch," Scorpius muttered with a wince as teenage Draco turned away from the bookshelves, his face a perfect picture of misery. "Sorry Dad, that must have sucked."

"It wasn't my best experience," Draco confessed as the library began to fade around them. "But the Yule Ball itself wasn't too bad."

Right on cue, the family found themselves transported to the Great Hall, only it wasn't anything like Scorpius and Lyra were used to. They were in the Great Hall in Hermione and Draco's fourth year, when it looked like an ice palace.

"Wow, this place is stunning," Lyra gasped, whirling around and taking it all in.

"It was pretty impressive," Hermione agreed as the twins located teenage Draco, his date for the evening Pansy, and the rest of their Slytherin friends.

"Oh sweet Merlin, look over there." Laughing, Scorpius elbowed his sister in the ribs and pointed her across the hall.

When Lyra saw where her brother was pointing she burst out laughing when she spotted Ron. He was wearing the most ridiculous feminine dress robes she'd ever seen. It looked like he was wearing a pair of old curtains, and the colour clashed terribly with his hair. The look was made even worse because Harry stood beside him, looking pretty attractive in his smart black, dress robes.

"Where's Mum?" Lyra asked, scanning the crowds next to Harry and Ron and finding no sign of her mother, although she did spot some more Gryffindors she knew.

"Watch," Draco said, his eyes riveted to the doors as they slowly opened.

While both Scorpius and Lyra gasped at the sight of their teenager mother entering the Great Hall with Viktor, Hermione's focus was on the teenage version of her husband. Teenage Draco's focus was entirely on Hermione, and it was obvious for anyone to see that he was transfixed by her. Looking at the very obvious affection on his face, Hermione wondered how she'd missed it at the time. How on earth had she missed someone staring at her as though she was the most gorgeous thing he'd ever seen?

"Mum, you look stunning," Lyra whispered to her mother.

"Yeah, you do," Scorpius agreed.

"The most attractive witch at the Yule Ball," Draco said quietly as he wrapped his arm around Hermione and they watched as the champions started the first dance.

What followed was a series of memories from Draco's night at the Yule Ball. Lyra and Scorpius had terrific fun spotting people they knew and seeing what they looked like years ago. They chuckled when they spotted a bored looking Severus wandering around, looking as though he would rather be anywhere but in the middle of a dance with the students. The sight of McGonagall in her tartan dress robes, dancing with Dumbledore, gave both the twins a good laugh as they'd never seen their headmistress looking so carefree. It also gave them a chance to see Dumbledore in person, as he'd retired before they'd started Hogwarts, and they'd heard lots about him. Then of course there was all of their parents friends to check out, not to mention their Herbology Professor, Neville Longbottom, who was a pretty nifty dancer.

While the twins were people watching, Hermione was paying close attention to her husband, or rather the teenage version of him. While he danced with Pansy, and had fun with his friends, she was aware that he always had one eye on her. Hermione had never realised just how close he'd been to her during the Yule Ball. If she'd been paying more attention to her surroundings she would have found that Draco was always within touching distance.

"Wow, you really did like me, didn't you?" Hermione whispered to her husband as teenage Draco watched teenage Hermione dancing with Viktor.

"I did," Draco confirmed. "I just wish I'd acted on my feelings sooner."

"Why didn't you?" Hermione asked. It was clear Draco really liked her in fourth year, so she had to wonder what kept her from asking her out until seventh.

"I lost my bottle when Krum asked you out," Draco admitted. "Obviously he was around for the rest of the year, and I thought you and him seemed rather friendly. Then when he was gone in fifth year, I was wary about asking you out. After all, how was I going to compare to a major quidditch star? I figured you would knock me back, so I didn't take the risk."

"I wish I could say I wouldn't have knocked you back, but I really don't know how I would have reacted," Hermione confessed. "I'm not even sure if I would have agreed to go to the Yule Ball with you. I hate to say it, but I think I was the one unaware of you in fourth year."

"It doesn't really matter now," Draco said as he wrapped his wife in his arms. "We found each other in the end and that's all that matters."

"I guess it is," Hermione agreed.

"And don't forget, you now have to attend all the quidditch world cup with us," Draco added with a wicked smirk.

"How do you feel about changing our agreement?" Hermione asked, looking up at Draco with an innocent smile.

"In what way?"

"Instead of me coming to the matches with you, how about we have a second honeymoon when the twins go back to school," Hermione suggested. "I'll leave everything in your hands. You can sort out where we go, and for the entire trip, I'm at your mercy. Anything you want to do, I'll do."

"Anything?" Draco checked, a few thoughts entering his naughty mind.

"Anything," Hermione confirmed. "So what do you say, do we have a deal?"

"We do," Draco replied as he leant down and they sealed it with a kiss.

While the couple were kissing the memories came to an end, and when the pair parted they found themselves back in Draco's study. Scorpius and Lyra gave their parents an unimpressed look, before Scorpius declared that his father had won the bet and now Hermione would be joining them for the entire world cup.

"Actually, I won't," Hermione said. "Your father and I renegotiated terms."

"We don't want to know the terms of your new bet, do we?" Scorpius question warily.

"I don't think you do," Draco said to his son. "But rest assured, I've won the bet and I've proven to your mother that I noticed her long before she noticed me."

"Yeah, she did seem kind of oblivious to your presence," Scorpius chuckled as his father tidied up and they headed back to the front room. "I mean honestly Mum, how didn't you release you had yourself a stalker?"

"I was not a stalker," Draco protested. "I was a teenager in love."

"More like lust," Scorpius muttered as his mother went to make some fresh hot chocolate.

When Hermione returned and everyone settled down with their hot chocolate, Scorpius and Lyra asked more questions about the Yule Ball. They'd thoroughly enjoyed what they'd seen, and were eager to know more gossip about the winter themed dance they'd just witnessed. It really did seem like a magical experience and they were just disappointed that they would be unlikely to participate in a Yule Ball while they were at school. It really was a once in a lifetime opportunity, but thanks to Draco they'd at least had a taste of what it was like attending the Yule Ball.


	26. Zzz

**A/N – Thanks to everyone for reading/reviewing/favouriting/following this story. As always, the support I receive is so overwhelming and means so much to me. I'm pleased people seem to have enjoyed Festive-Bites, and I hope to do more snippet stories in the New Year in the same vein as Festive-Bites and Alpha-Bites, using the alphabet as a base for each chapter. Anyway, that's it for this story and thanks again for taking the time to read these little fluffy snippets. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year, and I'll be back sometime in the New Year with more stories.**

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Zzz.

For Draco the most tiring day of the year was Christmas Day. With the twins to contend with, it was nonstop action all day. It started from the second they woke up, usually much too early for Draco's liking, and it didn't end until they were crashed out in bed at the end of the day. Of course, Draco himself used to be the same when he was a child, but at least he'd been just one little boy for his parents to deal with, whereas he and Hermione had to contend with twins.

As they had done since they were old enough to understand about Christmas, the twins barrelled into their parents' bedroom when they awoke. When they were younger, they would have jumped on the bed, but at seven years old they knew better than to jump on beds. Instead they settled on shaking their parents until they groggily opened their eyes.

"It's Christmas," Scorpius yelled loudly when his father cracked one of his eyes open.

Draco groaned and checked the time on the clock beside the bed. "It's just after six in the morning. It's too early to get up."

"But we're awake," Lyra pouted.

"They'll never go back to sleep now," Hermione murmured from beside Draco.

"But I will," Draco argued, his eyes already drifting closed again.

"No, Dad, don't," Lyra said, shaking her father's shoulder. "Please can we get up? Please."

"Please," Scorpius chimed in as the twins giving their parents cheesy grins in order to get them to agree to get up.

"Okay, we'll get up," Hermione conceded with a sigh.

Draco groaned again as Hermione pushed back the covers and climbed out of bed. Christmas Eve was practically the only night the couple slept in more than their underwear, so Draco didn't hastily cover himself up. He was wearing a pair of dark grey pyjama bottoms and a green t-shirt, while Hermione was also wearing a pair of pyjamas.

"Come on Draco, get up," Hermione called as she wrapped a dressing gown around herself and slipped her bare feet into a pair of slippers.

"Okay, okay, I'm up," Draco grumbled sleepily as he stumbled out of bed.

A few minutes later the family made their way downstairs. While the twins rushed over to the tree, and began pulling presents from underneath it, Hermione went to make her and Draco a cup of coffee to wake them up. Flopping down on the sofa, Draco barely managed to keep his eyes open as he waited for his morning coffee.

Once Hermione returned with coffee, the twins set about opening their presents. For the next couple of hours there was absolute chaos as the twins tore into their presents. While Scorpius tore into present after present, Lyra thoroughly examined what she'd received, before moving onto the next present. Of course, it meant Scorpius had opened his presents long before his sister, but while Lyra was still opening her presents, Scorpius turned back to his own stash to see what he'd received.

"Can we go outside and fly?" Scorpius asked Draco as he lovingly stroked his new training broom his parents had gotten him. Lyra had also gotten a new broom as both twins loved to fly.

"Not yet," Draco replied. He was now awake, but it was still too early in the morning for his liking.

"You know the rules, Scorp, no playing with toys before breakfast," Hermione added. "When Lyra's finished, we'll go and eat."

When Lyra had finished opening her presents, and Hermione had magically cleared away all the mess, the family headed into the kitchen for a light breakfast. After toast for Hermione and Draco and cereal for the twins, the foursome headed upstairs to get dressed for the day ahead.

"I've got something else for you," Draco said to Hermione, when they reached their bedroom. Even though they'd exchanged the gifts that were under the tree, he had a present that he'd saved for when he was alone with his wife.

"I wonder what?" Hermione chuckled as Draco produced a gold box with a red bow and placed it on the bed.

"I know you know what the gift is, but it wouldn't be Christmas with them," Draco replied. "Besides, you always appreciate them."

"I do," Hermione confirmed as she lifted the lid of the box and pulled out the silky garments inside. This year Draco's gift of lingerie consisted of a silk teal bra and knickers set, with a matching see through camisole.

"Do you like them?" Draco checked.

"I do," Hermione replied. "The colour is gorgeous."

"I thought it was something different," Draco replied. "So are you going to put them on?"

"Tonight," Hermione promised, giving her husband a quick kiss before they got dressed.

By the time Draco and Hermione were dressed and ready to go back downstairs, the twins were already back in the front room sorting their presents. As usual, Hermione went directly into the kitchen to make a start of lunch, while Draco supervised the twins. Like always, Draco's morning consisted of helping the twins open boxes and setting up games and toys. He barely had a moment to himself as one of the pair were constantly asking him to do something for them.

Finally his reprieve came in the late morning when Hermione's parents arrived for lunch. With a bag full on new presents to open, the twins finally left him alone long enough for him to catch his breath. Before Scorpius and Lyra were finished with their presents off the Grangers, Lucius and Narcissa turned up and there was yet more presents to be opened. Leaving the twins in the capable hands of their grandparents, Draco snuck away to the kitchen to let his wife know their parents had arrived.

"I'll just go and say hello," Hermione said. "Do me a favour and get the turkey out of the oven. You can start carving it as well."

With a sigh, Draco did as his wife asked and removed the turkey from the oven. After spending the majority of the morning running after the twins, he was now going to spend the rest of the time until lunch, helping his wife. Sure enough when Hermione returned to the kitchen, she had a list of tasks for Draco to do before they were ready to sit down and eat.

Christmas lunch was the first opportunity Draco really had to sit down and relax all day. However, even Christmas lunch wasn't quite as relaxing as it used to be, not now the twins were growing up and could be a handful. It took long enough to get them to the table, but when they were finally settled they wanted to pull crackers first. When the twins shared a devious smirk as Scorpius held out a cracker for Narcissa to pull with him, Draco suspected they were up to something, but he didn't expect a live frog to jump from the cracker when his mother and son pulled it.

"Aah," Jean cried as the tiny amphibian jumped across the turkey, landed in the gravy, before jumping off the table.

"Draco, catch it," Hermione cried, before she turned to scold the giggling twins.

Draco was able to use magic to catch the frog, and once he'd managed that, he put it outside before returning to the dining room and settling down to enjoy the rest of his Christmas lunch. Or at least he tried to relax and enjoy his meal, but it was rather hard to relax when he caught Scorpius trying to hide sprouts in Lucius's hair when Hermione had told him to eat them up.

Eventually lunch came to an end, with everyone now laughing about the frog in the cracker and the fact a sprout had mysteriously fallen from Lucius's hair when he stood up. Looking forward to a nice relaxing afternoon, Draco helped his wife with the washing up before they joined the others in the front room. Unfortunately for Draco, the twins had other ideas and he never even managed to sit down before Scorpius and Lyra were dragging him outside to try their new brooms.

A couple of hours later, Draco convinced the twins to head back inside, where he could hopefully put his feet up. The twins did agree to go back inside, but they weren't ready to let their father rest just yet. They each had plenty more toys they wanted to play with, and they wanted everyone to play with them, and that included Draco.

"I am so tired," Draco moaned to his wife a few hours later as the two sets of grandparents got ready to leave.

"It has been a long day," Hermione agreed. "And the day's not over yet."

Hermione was spot on with the day not being over, and even the departure of his parents and Hermione's, didn't slow down the twins. They were still working their way through their dozens of presents, and they still had plenty they hadn't reached yet. Fortunately, Hermione got them to take a break and have some turkey sandwiches for their tea. She then suggested, they all settled down to watch a film, but even then the twins were playing at the same time and they kept involving their parents in their games.

After what seemed like the longest day ever, it was finally time for the twins to go to bed. However, like everything else that day, it wasn't easy to achieve. Getting them into bed came with a ten minute debate on how long they could read for. Both Scorpius and Lyra had received new books for Christmas, and being avid readers they were dying to get started.

"You can read for fifteen minutes," Hermione eventually agreed. "Then we'll be back up to check on you, and you both better have your lights off and be snuggled down in bed."

Leaving the twins to their bedtime reading, Draco and Hermione headed back downstairs. Settling down in the front room, they were able to sit back and relax for the first time all day. Fifteen minutes later, Draco went to check on the twins and make sure they were asleep. As he half expected, they both had their bedroom lights on, but they were fast asleep. Clearly the pair had zonked out while they were reading, no doubt exhausted from the day they'd just had. Plucking their books from their hands, Draco checked they were both okay, before he turned out their respective lights and left his sleeping children to return to his wife.

"They've both crashed out," He told her when he returned to the front room.

"I can't blame them, it's been non-stop all day," Hermione replied with a chuckle. "Do you fancy an early night?"

"Always," Draco replied with a grin.

Turning off all the lights and checking everything was locked up for the night, the couple headed up to their room. Hermione let Draco use the bathroom first, and when he emerged wearing just his boxers and settled expectantly in bed, she grabbed her new lingerie and headed into the bathroom to get ready.

"Five minutes," She vowed as she shut the door behind her.

It was actually nearer ten minutes when Hermione returned to the bedroom, and she stopped in shock when she set eyes on her husband. Instead of being eagerly awaiting her return, he was fast asleep. Hermione knew that Draco must be incredibly tired if he'd managed to fall asleep in ten minutes. Chuckling at her husband, Hermione slipped into bed beside him and magically turned off the lights. Draco nuzzled closer to her in his sleep, but when he didn't wake up, Hermione knew he was out for the count. It looked like he would have to wait to appreciate her sexy underwear, but Hermione didn't mind. She was just as content to cuddle up to her husband and have an early night.

 **The End.**


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